Ontario panel to review and improve workplace health and safety system

Panel will research best practices across Canada and around the world

Ontario is forming an expert advisory panel to conduct a comprehensive review of the province’s occupationsl health and safety prevention and enforcement system.

The panel will be comprised of safety experts from labour groups, employers and academic institutions to recommend options for structural, operational and policy improvement. It will research best-in-class approaches to improving workplace safety in national and international jurisdictions and will look at a range of issues including:

•Continuum of safety practices in a workplace and entry-level safety training
•Impact of the underground economy on health and safety practices
•How existing legislation serves worker safety.

Part of the review will be supported by the Institute for Work & Health, an international independent research centre for occupational health and safety. Tony Dean, a professor in the School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Toronto, Senior Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School and a former deputy minister of labour in Ontario, will chair the panel.

The expert advisory panel will report back to the Minister of Labour in the fall of 2010.

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