Accreditation Requirements

It should be mandatory that all workplaces covered under the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA), with six or more employees, go through the accreditation audit process.  A voluntary program will only review those employers who feel they have taken sufficient precautions to give them an opportunity to receive a rebate from the WSIB.  A voluntary program will not capture those employers who have not put in place proper protective practices.  These are the very workplaces which need to be sought out and corrected.  These are the workplaces which, sooner or later, kill and maim workers.

Due to the large number of workplaces involved, it may be necessary to stagger the completion dates for the accreditation process, similar to what was done years ago with the certification training.  Large employers tend to have more internal resources available to them and should be required to begin the accreditation audit process sooner than smaller employers.  This extra time for smaller employers would allow them to utilize the advice and resources of Ontario’s Workers Health and Safety Centre, Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers and other health and safety associations as designated by the WSIB to ensure that they have established good health and safety practices.

Accreditation should be a comprehensive health and safety audit that is in keeping with the WSIB’s current vision to eliminate workplace injuries and illnesses.  In addition, the recently released final report of the SARS Commission lead by Justice Archie Campbell, recommended the use of the precautionary principle. 

“The Commission therefore recommends: 

That the precautionary principle, which states that action to reduce risk need not await scientific certainty, be expressly adopted as a guiding principle throughout Ontario’s health, public health and worker safety systems by way of policy statement, by explicit reference in all relevant operational standards and directions, and by way of inclusion, through preamble, statement of principle, or otherwise, in the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the Health Protection and Promotion Act, and all relevant health statutes and regulations.”

Throughout the report the Commissioner was unequivocal about the importance of this principle.  Here are the key examples:

“If the Commission has one single take-home message it is the precautionary principle that safety comes first, that reasonable efforts to reduce risk need not await scientific proof.”

“Perhaps the most important lesson of SARS is the importance of the precautionary principle.  SARS demonstrated over and over the importance of the principle that we cannot wait for scientific certainty before we take reasonable steps to reduce risk.  This principle should be adopted as a guiding principle throughout Ontario’s health, public health and worker safety systems.”