Ontario Hires 100 Additional Health and Safety Inspectors

• Businesses can access free training and assistance, including the workplace safety plan toolkit, live webinars on how to operate a business safely and comply with COVID-19 health and safety requirements, and a 30-minute online course on infection prevention and control provided by the Public Services Health and Safety Association.
• Assistance and support for small businesses is available from the Provincial Employment Standards Call Centre and Occupational Health and Safety Contact Centre
• Sector-specific workplace COVID-19 safety fact sheets, guides and posters are available at Ontario.ca/covidsafety. These include multilingual tip sheets for employers.
• Financial supports for businesses include the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board’s Health and Safety Excellence Program, which offers rebates to safe employers, and its financial relief package. The Ontario government offers other supports for businesses, including the Ontario Small Business Support Grant, rebates for PPE, property tax and energy bills.
• Corporations can be fined $1,000 for failing to comply with the orders under the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act and the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act. Individuals, including employees and patrons, can also be fined $750 for failing to comply with orders under the Acts.
• For more serious offences, a person can be charged under Part III of the Provincial Offences Act. If convicted, the court can impose fines as high as $100,000 for individuals, and up to up to $500,000 for directors and officers of a corporation. Both could also receive terms of imprisonment of up to one year.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Resources to prevent COVID-19 in the workplace
• Guidance for employers during breaks
• Break poster
• Lunch poster
• Keep it to yourself poster
• COVID-19 safety checklist for workplaces
• COVID-19 self-isolation and return to work