Ontario's Ministry of Labour proposing to introduce heat-stress regulations to better protect workers

With global temperatures increasing each year around the globe and here in Canada, Ontario's Ministry of Labour is taking steps to better protect workers from heat exposure while on the job.

New heat stress regulations are being proposed under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA).

The proposed regulations would require employers to take steps to protect workers from exposure to hazardous thermal conditions under new guidelines.

According to the Ministry of Labour, heat stress is a significant cause of occupational illnesses that may also lead to death.

Based on Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) statistics, there were 350 lost time claims for heat exhaustion for construction workers alone between 2006 and 2015.

"[We're seeing] record levels of heat in the last couple of years, expecting this to be the norm," said Mike Parent, Vice-President of Health and Safety Services at Workplace Safety North.

"You know, this is appropriate and possibly overdue."

Current requirements under the OHSA state that employers have a general duty to take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances to protect workers. The duty includes protecting workers from hazardous thermal conditions that may lead to heat-related illnesses.

"To be honest, that's a little bit vague and that can be interpreted differently from different employers," said Parent.

"So clear regulations would really help. It would help supervisors, employers and workers and prevent people from getting sick or injured from working."

New regulations being proposed include introducing heat stress exposure limits, and requiring employers to identify and implement control measures and procedures to control heat exposure.

"Some other controls that an employer can adopt are administrative controls, and that's reducing the amount of time a worker spends in the exposure to heat through implementation of a work-rest cycle, or adjusting the start of their work day," said Parent.

"Another requirement that's in the proposal is the requirement that cool portable drinking water or other adequate hydrating fluid be provided by the employer, close to the work areas for the use of workers in hot conditions."

The proposed regulations would apply to workplaces both outdoors, where exposure to sunshine and high temperatures can be dangerous, and also indoors where lack of airflow and machinery can play a role.

"The regulations, if adopted, would want to protect workers from exposure to hazardous thermal conditions that may result inaworker's core body temperature exceeding 38 degrees Celsius," explained Parent.

"So you know, indoor workplaces such as smelters, blast furnaces, foundries, manufacturing facilities, chemical plants, they can have those conditions that would generate too much heat for work."

Parent said employers should sit down with their joint health and safety committee or a worker representative to discuss what control measures they can put in place, to protect employees who work in environments that are exposed to high heat conditions.

The Ministry of Labour has released the proposed regulations and is conducting a Regulatory Impact Analysis of the proposed amendments. As part of the analysis, the Ministry is asking for comments and feedback from the public and employers pertaining to the anticipated costs and benefits of implementing the proposed amendments.

Submissions are due to the Ministry of Labour by September 1, 2023.

Parent said if the regulations are adopted, he expected the legislation would be in place as soon as possible before summer, 2024.

"The legislative process doesn't work as fast as we would like. But I think that the government sees the need to push this legislation, and have this regulation in place to protect workers as soon as possible."