On July 23, 2008, the Ontario Ministry of Labour announced a new Safe At Work Ontario program geared to improve the health and safety culture in the workplace and reduce critical injuries, fatalities and lost-time injuries.

This season, inspectors will focus on paying visits to industrial workplaces specifically in search of fall hazards. Slips, trips and falls cause twenty percent of workplace injuries in Ontario. Inspections will be concentrated on rails, cranes, lanyards, fall safety equipment, lifting devices, ladders, platforms and any policy, procedure or process that involves climbing or working in a heightened area. Inspectors will be looking for any infringement of the Ontario Health and Safety Act.

If in violation of the Ontario Health and Safety Act, consequences are very serious. For each individual violation of the act, an organization can be fined up to $500,000 and individuals can be fined up to $25,000 or up to 12 months imprisonment or both.

The following criteria is used when assessing which organizations will be selected for proactive inspections:
• The number and severity of past lost-time and no-lost-time workplace injuries, including the associated costs
• Compliance history
• Hazards inherent to the work
• New businesses
• Size of businesses
• Specific events or incidents (e.g., critical or fatal injuries, or violence)
• New and/or vulnerable workers

This program is aggressive, proactive and aimed at creating a much safer working environment for all Ontarians. Lets do our part and be aggressive and proactive with regard to the safety of our work environment as well.