January 24, 2005

Ontario to issue tickets for industrial safety violations

TORONTO

Ontario’s health and safety inspectors will be able to issue tickets for unsafe workplace practices in the industrial sector as part of a plan aimed at reducing workplace injuries by 20 per cent over four years.

Inspectors were already empowered to issue tickets in the construction, mining and diving sectors.

“Ticketing gives our inspectors more flexibility to deal immediately with those who violate health and safety requirements in the workplace,” said Labour Minister Chris Bentley.

“This initiative will also discourage anyone from trying to gain an unfair advantage over law-abiding competitors by ignoring workplace health and safety.”

Employers, supervisors and workers can be issued tickets for 81 violations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Violations include failing to wear fall protection equipment, such as a harness and lifeline, failing to use a machine with adequate guarding and failing to ensure a lifting device is operated safely.

The tickets carry set fines, including court costs, of $200 or $300, depending on the offence.

If issued a ticket, the party can choose to either pay the fine or appear in a provincial court to dispute the offence.

The Labour Ministry announced in July, 2004 that it would hire 200 new health and safety inspectors over two years to target the unsafe workplaces and cut down on claims by injured workers.

The hirings nearly doubled the number of inspectors enforcing the province’s workplace safety laws to 430.

The Canadian Press

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