When Do You Need To Comply With Ontario’s Occupational Health & Safety Law?
All companies had a deadline of July 1st, 2014 to comply with Ontario’s new safety awareness training, this article will discuss the consequences of not complying with these new regulations. This obligation is on the employer, not the employee. To read the consequences of not complying click here.
Given that it is past July 1st, 2014, what amount of time is allowed to train new employees? The deadline for new employees is “as soon as practicable” after they start working. For supervisors appointed to a supervisory position after July 1, 2014, the deadline for supervisor health and safety awareness training is one week after starting to perform work as a supervisor. Contact us now to get your organization into compliance.
“We have used Acute Environmental & Safety Services Inc. for many years and our personnel always come back well trained, energized and bringing lots of ideas.” –Dante, Environmental Service Company
The Consequences Of Not Complying With Ontario Health And Safety Awareness Training Requirements
You Are Putting Your Employee’s Safety At Risk
If you neglect to have your employees or supervisors complete the mandatory employee health and safety awareness training you are putting your employees at greater risk of injury. Informed employees greatly increase the chances of identifying workplace safety hazards and, in turn, reduce workplace injuries. Having your employees complete the training is just the smart thing to do.
Higher Costs From Lost Time Due To Injuries
Without the proper awareness training for you employees, you will have a higher number of injuries and lost time due to injuries. The average cost of work-related injuries is $38,000 (^) in direct costs and 1.1 times the direct cost in indirect costs (^), or $41,800, for a total of $79,800. Here is a great tool to calculate the total costs of a workplace injury.
You Will Lose Respect As An Employer From Your Employees
If you do not complete the necessary training required by Ontario law for workplace health and safety, your employees will lose respect for you. What employees would want to work for a company that does not care about their safety enough to train them on how to identify workplace safety hazards? One of the quickest ways to lose respect from employees and decrease engagement is to give them the sense that you do not care for them. Conversely, when employees feel valued and cared for studies have shown they become significantly more engaged and productive.
Visit their Youtbue channel at: https://www.youtube.com/user/HealthSafetyOntario
Employee Lawsuits
If employees injure themselves at work, there is a very high likelihood that those same employees will bring a lawsuit against your organization to seek compensation for at-work accidents. These lawsuits can be very costly before even considering the court settlement costs. In addition, there are additional non-monetary costs with lawsuits from the attention they will draw from key personnel at your organization. Instead of working on the business, these personnel will need to shift some of their focus to the lawsuit.
Negative Impacts To Reputation Among Investors and Community Stakeholders
Failing to train employees with the required employee health and safety awareness training can lead to a negative reputation not only with employees but also investors and other key stakeholders in the community. This could lead to a decrease in investor interest, increased challenges in raising capital, and less community and government support.
Legal Proceedings
If you do not comply you are at risk of undergoing a health and safety awareness training audit. If your organization fails the audit, the Ontario Government will impose fines and jail time, resulting in corresponding legal proceedings. With these legal proceedings will come legal costs in addition to the penalties being imposed by the government.
Personal Fine
Every person who fails to comply with these laws is liable to a fine of up to $25,000.
Potential Jail Time
In addition to or in place of the personal fine, every person who fails to comply with these laws can be punished by up to 12 months of jail time.
Corporate Fine
If a corporation is convicted of not meeting these laws the corporation can be fined up to $500,000.
To learn more about joint health and safety committee certification training click here.
Here at Acute Environmental & Safety Services we provide a wide variety of training programs for employees. Including the courses we offer is a Health And Safety Awareness Training course for employees as well as a Health And Safety Awareness Training course for supervisors.
Sources:
https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90o01#BK106
http://www.hse.gov.uk/leadership/benefits.htm
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