1 in 5 Canadian workplaces have no safety programs for new workers, survey suggests

A new survey suggests almost 20 per cent of Canadian businesses do not offersafety and orientation programs that are legally requiredfor newworkers in much ofthe country a finding one labour law expert calls "shocking" and evidence of "widespread lawbreaking."

The research, conducted by Angus Reid and commissioned byThreads of Life, a group that advocatesforworkplace safety, reflects a reality Cynthia Kathleen "C.K."DesGrosseilliersknows all too well.

Her brother Tim was killedby falling equipment while on the job in downtown Toronto five years ago. She's been fighting to raise awareness about workplace safetyever since.

"Tim would say that we need employers and supervisors that makesafety priority one," the Toronto resident told CBC News.

DesGrosseillierssays she can point tothree major factorsthat led tohis death: he was assigned the job at thelast minute, hewasn't given a spotter while workingand he didn't have up-to-date training.

Her brother'sdeath is one of more than 3,800 that occurred in Canadian workplacesfrom 2017 to 2020, according to theAssociation of Workers' Compensation Boards of Canada. DesGrosseilliers, who's a member of Threadsof Life,says theresults show many employers still need to be held accountable so new workers don't meet her brother'sfate.

"I think he would think of his nephews and nieces and he would think they deserved all the support that they can be given," saidDesGrosseilliers.

"It really is the most important thing for people to come home at the end of the day."

545 companies surveyed

The surveywas conductedfromMarch23 to 25 with hiring managers at 545 companies who are members of the Angus Reid Forum.The poll has acomparable margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

A total of 102of those managerssaidtheir companiesoffer noorientation, onboarding,safety, emergency, hazard orillness and injuryprotocol training. Companies that have29 employees and undermakeup 52 per cent of the firmsthat had none of these programs in place.

ShirleyHickman, the executive director of Threads of Life, says her groupwanted to understand how businesses are approaching workers'safety and hiring after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Young workers didn't have jobs because of the pandemic.And then coming out of the pandemic, was that going to lead to more employers hiring more than normal?" said Hickman, whose sondied at 20 years old ina 1996 workplace explosion in London.

"And thatproved to be true," she says.

The surveysuggests27 per centof companies in high-risk sectors, such asagriculture and resources, construction, energy, manufacturing and transportation,plan to hire more young workers than in the previous two years.

Hickman says despite the growing awareness of occupational health and safety over the past fewyears, she's worried about young peoplegoing back to dangerous workplaces like construction sites and farms as pandemic restrictions ease.She hopes they'lllearn about their rights and demand safe working conditions.

"There's work to be done until there's no injuries, no illnesses, no deaths," she says.

Eric Tucker,a labour law expert and professor at York University's Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, says each province has different regulations, buthealth and safety legislationgenerally imposes a duty on employers to provide instruction and training to workers. In Ontario, the home ofalmost 40 per cent of thebusinesses Angus Reid surveyed,those responsibilitiesareoutlined inthe Occupational Health and Safety Act.

For companies to admit openly thatthey don't offer trainingthat's mandated by legislationshows there is "widespread lawbreaking" taking place partly due toweak enforcementby the province, Tucker says.

"Every employer is required to have a safety program of one sort or another, so the admitted absence of those programs is really a shocking finding."

A spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Labour told CBC Newsthe province is "proud to support Threads of Life" in its effort to make workplaces safer.

"Ontario has one of the best safety records in Canada. Our preventative, proactive approach emphasizes safety first, preventing or correcting workplace hazards to protect workers,"Ciara Nardelliwrote in an email statement.

"Our focus is on improvinghealth and safety awareness and practices in small businesses and ultimately helping to lower number of workplace injuries, fatalities and illnesses."

A2019report by the Auditor General of Ontario put forward27 recommendations for the Ministry of Labour to strengthen enforcement of workplace safety. The office's follow-up report in 2021 said11 per cent of the recommendations have been implemented, 52 per cent are in the works, and 33 per cent have shown little to no progress.

Tucker says until the legislation catches up with the reality ofthe province's workplaces, businesses won't have any incentiveto create safeenvironments.

"The lack ofgood health and safety does not drive companies out of business."