The Ontario Ministry of Labour has previously stated that it intends to pass a regulation requiring employers to provide safety awareness training to all supervisors – in addition to non-supervisory workers.
The Ministry has now released supervisory training materials for consultation: a supervisor workbook and employer guide to supervisory awareness training. The Ministry intends to make use of those materials, or equivalent materials, mandatory.
On its website, the Ministry states that, when mandatory, the supervisory training may be provided:
- Face-to-face with one supervisor or a group of supervisors using the workbook
- Electronically through an e-learning program (the Ministry intends to develop e-learning programs for workers and supervisors)
The draft 30-page supervisor workbook is called “A Supervisor’s Guide in 5 Steps”. Apart from those 5 “steps”, the workbook lists 5 duties of supervisors:
1. Know the OHS Act and the various Regulations attached to it that apply to your workplace
2. Make sure workers wear the right protective equipment
3. Tell workers about the hazards in their work
4. Plan the work so that it can be done safely
5. Make sure workers know and follow through on their health and safety duties
It will likely be several months, at the least, before the supervisor and worker training, using the Ministry’s materials or equivalent materials, becomes legally required. In the interim, Ontario employers – particularly large employers – should begin thinking about the logistics of training new and possibly current workers on those materials. (The Ministry has previously released draft training materials for non-supervisory workers, for consultation).
The Ministry states, “If you already provide your supervisors with the information covered in this program through other supervisory training, you may not need to deliver this program. When the Ministry of Labour has completed an equivalency guideline, it will be available to employers in order to find out whether your program meets the required learning objectives of this program.”
The draft supervisory workbook and employer guide may be accessed here.
