Enforcement Statistics

• Revised: October 2011
• Content last reviewed: January 2013

The Ministry of Labour and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board have developed a single, consistent method of reporting injury rates and fatalities across Ontario. This will ensure a greater overall focus on the problem of work-related injuries, and better illustrate this issue to workplace parties and the public.

Data is updated annually. Any updates will reflect changes that occur as injury and fatality claims that are pending or being appealed are decided.

View the current statistics.

Ministry of Labour Enforcement Statistics

The 2009-10 enforcement data reflect a decrease in field activity due to health and safety inspector vacancies. The Ministry undertook a significant recruitment process with the hiring of 42 new inspectors during the year.

Field Visits

A field visit occurs when a ministry inspector visits a workplace and meets with the workplace parties in order to enforce the Occupational Health and Safety Act (The Act). Field visits may be for the purpose of an inspection, investigation or a consultation.

Total Field Visits: 1999-2004 by Program Area (inspections, investigations and consultations)

Program/Total	1998/99	1999/00	2000/01	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04
Construction	21,028	22,940	21,455	22,216	20,454	23,563
Industrial	27,393	28,893	27,778	24,949	24,133	24,609
Mining	2,565	3,598	3,698	3,283	2,716	2,902
SPS	5,207	5,353	5,725	5,280	4,790	5,028
Total	56,193	60,784	58,656	55,728	52,093	56,102

Total Field Visits: 2005-2010 by Program Area (inspections, investigations and consultations)

Program/Total	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08	2008/09	2009/10
Construction	21,008	28,164	30,638	37,611	32,992	30,604
Industrial	23,755	44,167	51,083	53,505	52,163	48,033
Mining	2,749	3,158	3,267	4,716	3,912	3,884
SPS	5,161	5,922	5,741	5,443	4,752	5,657
Cross-Program						232
Total	52,673	81,411	90,729	101,275	93,819	88,410

Notes:

1. SPS means Specialized and Professional Services staff including diving inspectors, engineers, ergonomists, hygienists, physicians and radiation protection officers.
2. Cross-program represents enforcement activity conducted by staff assigned to more than one health and safety program.

Inspections

The Ministry of Labour inspects workplaces to monitor compliance with occupational health and safety legislation, and to promote the internal responsibility system. These are considered to be proactive field visits. The Ministry targets workplaces and/or sectors of the economy that have a history of poor compliance or high levels of work-related injuries.

Inspections: 1999-2004 by Program Area

Program/Total	1998/99	1999/00	2000/01	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04
Construction	17,620	19,208	17,526	18,784	17,212	19,274
Industrial	16,271	17,042	14,672	13,407	13,719	12,895
Mining	2,182	2,987	3,052	2,660	2,242	2,293
SPS	2,655	2,637	2,628	2,393	2,542	2,524
Total	38,728	41,874	37,878	37,244	35,715	36,986

Inspections: 2005-2010 by Program Area

Program/Total	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08	2008/09	2009/10
Construction	15,620	20,809	22,987	29,490	25,106	23,212
Industrial	13,884	30,756	36,689	37,791	35,085	32,741
Mining	2,129	2,509	2,767	4,081	3,312	3,391
SPS	2,897	3,216	3,090	3,263	2,727	3,449
Cross-Program						145
Total	34,530	57,290	65,533	74,625	66,230	62,938

Investigations

These are reactive field visits for the purpose of investigating a fatality, critical injury, work refusal, complaint, occupational injury or disease, or other events in the workplace.

Investigations: 1999-2004 by Program Area

Program/Total	1998/99	1999/00	2000/01	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04
Construction	2,859	3,196	3,356	2,997	2,898	3,858
Industrial	9,721	10,778	11,988	10,682	9,623	10,887
Mining	311	479	560	502	391	506
SPS	2,107	2,251	2,580	2,409	1,871	2,026
Total	14,998	16,704	18,484	16,590	14,783	17,277

Investigations: 2005-2010 by Program Area

Program/Total	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08	2008/09	2009/10
Construction	4,276	5,431	5,656	6,947	6,688	6,577
Industrial	9,395	12,947	14,016	15,340	16,566	15,007
Mining	534	542	421	503	464	335
SPS	1,997	2,426	2,516	1,924	1,712	1,975
Cross-Program						85
Total	16,202	21,346	22,609	24,714	25,430	23,979

Consultations

These field visits are made to advise workplace parties of their rights, duties and responsibilities under the Act, and of the policies and procedures of the Ministry.

Consultations: 1999-2004 by Program Area

Program/Total	1998/99	1999/00	2000/01	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04
Construction	549	536	573	435	344	431
Industrial	1,401	1,073	1,118	860	791	827
Mining	72	132	86	121	83	103
SPS	445	4655	517	478	377	478
Total	2,467	2,206	2,294	1,894	1,595	1,839

Consultations: 2005-2010 by Program Area

Program/Total	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08	2008/09	2009/10
Construction	1,112	1,924	1,995	1,174	1,198	815
Industrial	476	464	378	374	512	285
Mining	86	107	79	132	136	158
SPS	267	280	135	256	313	233
Cross-Program						2
Total	1,941	2,775	2,587	1,936	2,159	1,493

Orders Issued

Orders are issued by inspectors to achieve compliance with health and safety legislation and regulations. When an inspector finds an instance where legislation or regulations are not being complied with, a written order is issued to comply within a certain time period.

Orders Issued: 1999-2004 by Program Area (including stop work orders)

Program/Total	1998/99	1999/00	2000/01	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04
Construction	23,658	28,733	28,961	35,013	35,486	41,736
Industrial	28,694	35,019	34,415	34,571	31,310	30,021
Mining	1,918	3,726	5,249	3,466	3,317	3,478
SPS	2,495	2,462	2,218	2,117	2,409	2,539
Total	56,765	69,940	70,843	75,167	72,522	77,774

Orders Issued: 2005-2010 by Program Area (including stop work orders)

Program/Total	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08	2008/09	2009/10
Construction	40,605	54,405	68,430	81,832	69,109	57,759
Industrial	42,641	96,008	99,421	86,569	79,186	75,672
Mining	3,279	4,036	3,499	4,733	4,728	3,432
SPS	3,616	4,501	3,984	3,535	2,034	2,536
Cross-Program						5
Total	90,141	158,950	175,334	176,669	155,057	139,404

Stop Work Orders

If the hazard is imminent a stop work order is issued to immediately halt the particular task or process.

Stop Work Orders: 1999-2004 by Program Area

Program/Total	1998/99	1999/00	2000/01	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04
Construction	1,599	1,885	1,928	2,505	3,101	4,149
Industrial	1,117	1,278	1,432	1,526	1,265	1,369
Mining	132	210	628	348	303	323
SPS	116	119	117	83	125	114
Total	2,964	3,492	4,105	4,462	4,794	5,955

Stop Work Orders: 2005-2010 by Program Area

Program/Total	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08	2008/09	2009/10
Construction	3,849	5,068	6,460	7,790	6,062	5,249
Industrial	1,760	3,892	3,835	3,621	3,268	2,470
Mining	298	536	375	452	493	345
SPS	141	202	268	201	69	71
Total	6,048	9,698	10,938	12,064	9,892	8,135

Work Refusals

Under the Act, workers have the right to refuse work they believe is likely to endanger themselves or another person. The Act sets out a process for addressing work refusals. The statistics listed here indicate any work refusal that has been reported to the Ministry, regardless of the stage of the work refusal process.

Work Refusals: 1999-2004 by Program Area

Program/Total	1998/99	1999/00	2000/01	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04
Construction	12	13	22	15	11	14
Industrial	380	421	504	368	370	361
Mining	12	16	23	10	8	14
SPS	1	3	1	2	0	1
Total	405	453	550	395	389	390

Work Refusals: 2004-2010 by Program Area

Program/Total	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08	2008/09	2009/10
Construction	14	6	7	13	5	4	4
Industrial	361	295	259	257	196	208	135
Mining	14	18	29	14	6	4	2
SPS	1	2	0	0	0	0	0
Total	390	321	295	284	207	216	141

Complaints

The Ministry receives complaints about workplace conditions, contraventions of legislation or regulations and other workplace concerns. Many complaints result in field visits to the workplace, but some are dealt with in other ways.

Complaints: 1999-2004 by Program Area

Program/Total	1998/99	1999/00	2000/01	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04
Construction	1,408	1,471	1,470	1,286	1,464	1,896
Industrial	3,663	4,170	4,369	3,539	3,814	4,064
Mining	66	87	86	72	78	82
SPS	65	81	59	58	41	57
Total	5,202	5,809	5,984	4,955	5,397	6,099

Complaints: 2005-2010 by Program Area

Program/Total	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08	2008/09	2009/10
Construction	1,848	2,867	2,942	3,086	3,296	3,413
Industrial	3,613	5,062	5,032	4,983	4,713	4,495
Mining	94	130	115	95	99	79
SPS	114	40	8	5	3	0
Total	5,669	8,099	8,097	8,169	8,111	7,987

Prosecution Statistics

Charges can be laid for violations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act and its regulations. Charges may be laid against workplace parties, including employers, supervisors and workers. If convicted, an offender may be fined by the court.

In the table below, the number of convictions and total amount of fines are listed as totals for all areas (construction, industrial and mining) by year:

• data for 1996-2004 is listed by calendar year (January 1 - December 31)
• data for 2005-2008 is listed by fiscal year (April 1 - March 31).

More than one conviction may be related to a single incident.

Number of Convictions and Amount of Fines: 1997-2002

Convictions/Fines	1997	1999	1998	2000	2001	2002
Number of Convictions (per year)	313	309	283	333	287	459
Amount of Fines (per year)	$3,746,893	$6,545,260	$4,582,638	$5,155,775	$7,300,715	$9,157,860

Number of Convictions and Amount of Fines: 2003-2009

Convictions/Fines	2003	2004	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08	2008/09
Number of Convictions (per year)	618	386	326	856	1,191	1,303
Amount of Fines (per year)	$7,115,725	$6,292,835	$6,069,251	$8,821,380	$12,007,535	$14,136,060