New Council to Advise on Workplace Health and Safety

Ontario’s new Prevention Council will help protect workers and improve workplace health and safety across the province.

The council will provide support for the Chief Prevention Officer and advise the Minister of Labour on:

Prevention of workplace injuries and illnesses.
Development of a provincial occupational health and safety strategy.
Proposed changes to funding and delivery of services for the prevention of workplace injuries and occupational diseases.

The newly formed council includes four labour representatives, a non-union labour representative, four employer representatives, an occupational health and safety expert and a representative from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB). Nine members of the Prevention Council are being announced at this time; one employer representative and a representative from the WSIB are currently being finalized and will be announced in the near future.

QUICK FACTS

The Prevention Councilwill report to the Minister of Labour through Chief Prevention Officer.
The Occupational Health and Safety Actrequires the members of the Prevention Council to choose a chair by a date to be fixed by the minister.
Since the launch of Safe At Work Ontario in June 2008, the province’s team of more than 400 health and safety inspectors conducted more than 160,000 proactive and 66,000 reactive field visits, issued more than 360,000 compliance orders and conducted 25 proactive inspection blitzes.