CASUAL LEGAL: Changes to Occupational Health and Safety and Workers Compensation, Again

Changes to Occupational Health and Safety and Workers Compensation, Again

By Anthony Purgas

Reynolds Mirth Richards Farmer LLP

AMSC Casual Legal Service Provider

On December 9, 2020, the Provincial government passed the Ensuring Safety and Cutting Red Tape Act, 2020, which contained various and substantial changes to, among other things, the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Workers Compensation Act. A number of these changes revised or removed sections that were introduced by the previous government in 2018.

The changes to the Occupational Health and Safety Act are expected to come into force later this year and will contain a number of key changes including:

• Simplifying and reducing the requirements and duties for health and safety committees, including removing certain training requirements;
• Narrowing the circumstances where employees can refuse work from “dangerous work” to work that constitutes an “undue hazard”;
• Workers refusing to work due to an undue hazard will no longer presumptively be paid while the refusal is being investigated;
• Occupational Health and Safety officers will have the authority to refuse to investigate frivolous or vexatious complaints;
• Independent contractors will have greater duties for their own health and safety; and
• Occupational Health and Safety officers will be able to serve orders and other key documents by email and may be able to issue compliance orders without first doing an inspection.

The changes to the Workers Compensation Act have already come into force as of January 1, 2021, and April 1, 2021. Some of the changes of potential relevance to municipalities:

• Presumptive coverage for psychological injuries (e.g. PTSD) will only be available to firefighters, police officers, paramedics, sheriffs, correctional officers and emergency dispatchers;
• The requirement to reinstate injured workers under the Act has been removed, although employers will have a duty to cooperate in an injured worker’s early and safe return to work; and
• Employers will no longer be required to contribute to group health plans for injured workers who are off work due to a workplace injury.

There are a number of other changes set out in the new legislation and it is important for municipalities to review their health and safety procedures as this new legislation gets rolled out to ensure continued compliance.