Bill 177- Stronger, Fairer Ontario Act made significant amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Act ("OHSA") and to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act ("WSIA"). You first read about these changes in our previous blog here. Bill 177 received Royal Assent and these amendments are now proclaimed into law.
The most significant amendments are the drastic increase in maximum fines under section 66 of the OHSA. The maximum penalty for an individual now involves a fine of $100,000 a significant increase from a previous fine of $25,000. The maximum fine for a corporation is now increased to $1.5 million from a previous fine of $500,000.
Schedule 30 also creates notification obligations for a constructor of the project if an incident takes place at a project site. Additionally, an employer will also be required to notify a Director if a committee or a health and safety representative has identified potential structural inadequacies of a workplace as a source of danger or hazard to workers.
Bill 177 is expected to cause further uncertainty as the one year limitation period has been extended to require the Crown to commence a prosecution from the latter of one year from 1) the occurrence of the last act or default upon which the prosecution is based or 2) the day upon which an inspector becomes aware of an alleged offence.
Schedule 45 of Bill 177 also amended the WSIA. Section 13 of the WSIA now provides that a worker is entitled to benefits for mental stress as if the mental stress were a personal injury by accident. Further, a new section 13.1 sets out the transitional rules that apply for the purpose of determining entitlement to benefits under mental stress.
Further amendments provide that the chair of the Appeals Tribunal may appoint a panel of three or five members to hear and decide an appeal or other matter conferred upon the Appeals Tribunal. Lastly, the Appeals Tribunal may contract with any other person for any purpose that the chair considers necessary, and the Appeals Tribunal is deemed to be a person for purposes of the contract and is party to the contract.
While the transitional provisions for chronic stress entitlement will not be effective until January 1, 2018, the other amendments provided by Schedule 45 and Schedule 30 came into force the day Bill 177 received royal assent. The lawyers at CCP are experienced in all areas of OHSA and WSIA. Click here for our team members that can help you understand the important changes Bill 177 brings to your workplace and to implement proactive measures addressing these amendments.
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