Occupational injury risks in Ontario

Reasons for the study

In June 2011, Ontario passed legislation implementing a range of recommendations in the December 2010 report of the Expert Advisory Panel on Occupational Health & Safety. The legislation included the establishment of a prevention office within the Ministry of Labour (as it was then called), with responsibility to develop and execute an integrated occupational health and safety (OHS) strategy for the province.

The Expert Advisory Panel's report included a recommendation to improve the indicators of OHS performance at both the workplace and system levels. The 2019 Ontario Auditor-General’s review of the Ministry of Labour also recommended strengthened research investments to understand the effectiveness of measures to deter OHS violations.

In responding to these recommendations, the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development's Occupational Health and Safety Strategy 2021-2026 includes a priority to "build and use the best evidence." The goal of this project is to support the implementation of this objective in the strategy by establishing an epidemiology unit focused on occupational injury. The objective of this unit will be to develop enhanced information on occupational injury hazard exposures in the Ontario labour force and to evaluate the effectiveness of workplace and regulatory measures to control the risk of occupational injury in Ontario.

Objectives of the study

Target audience

Ontario's Occupational Health and Safety Strategy 2021-2026 emphasized enhanced data for the measurement of the Ontario prevention system and the development of a common database for planning and operational purposes. This project will support improvements in OHS performance measurement.