Notices required from employers

For detailed information regarding notices and prescribed information that may apply to your workplace, and to submit a report or notice, refer to the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD) website, titled “Reporting Workplace Incidents or Structural Hazards”.

Notices of death or injury

If a person, whether a worker or other person, has been critically injured or killed at the workplace, the employer and constructor, if any, must immediately notify, by telephone or other direct means:

  • a Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD) inspector (report the incident to the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development ’s Health and Safety Contact Centre at 1-877-202-0008. The employer or constructor can make a report to this number at any time of day)
  • the joint health and safety committee (JHSC) or health and safety representative, if any, and
  • the trade union, if there is one.

Within 48 hours, the employer must also send a written report to a Director of the Ministry, setting out the circumstances of the occurrence containing the information and particulars (or details) that may be prescribed [subsection 51(1)]. Please consult the applicable sector regulation to determine what information is required.

Self-employed people are required to notify a Director of the MLITSD , in writing, if they sustain an occupational injury or illness.

Notice of accident, explosion, fire or violence causing injury

If an accident, explosion, fire or incident of workplace violence occurs at the workplace, and as a result, a person needs medical attention or is disabled from doing his or her usual work, but no one dies or is critically injured as a result of the occurrence, the employer must:

  • provide written notice to the JHSC (or health and safety representative) and the trade union, if any, within four days of the incident, and
  • make sure that the notice contains any prescribed information and particulars [section 52(1)]
  • provide the notice to a Director of the Ministry if required by an inspector.

If the injury took place on a construction project or at a mine or mining plant, additional notification rules may apply depending on the type of event.

Depending on the workplace, you may be required to keep a record of the incident in your permanent records.

Occupational illness

If an employer is informed that a worker has an occupational illness or that a claim for an occupational illness has been filed with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) in respect of an occupational illness, the employer must:

  • provide written notice to a Director of the MLITSD , the JHSC (or health and safety representative) and the trade union, if any, within four days, and
  • make sure that the notice contains any prescribed information and particulars [subsection 52(2)]
  • provide the written notice not only for current workers of the employer but also to former ones [subsection 52(3)].

Accident, etc., at project site or mine

When specified incidents occur, such as an accident, premature or unexpected explosion, fire, flood, or inrush of water, failure of any equipment, machine, device, article or thing, a cave-in, subsidence or rockburst, the constructor of a project or the employer of a worker who works in a mine or plant or certain persons prescribed for prescribed locations, are required to provide written notice of the occurrence, containing prescribed information and particulars to a Director of the MLITSD , unless a report under section 51 or a notice under section 52 has already been given to a Director, the JHSC (or health and safety representative) and the trade union, if any, within two days. The notice must contain any prescribed information [section 53]. An example of an accident or unexpected event in this situation could be an explosion that occurred in which no one was injured.

Employers who do not own the workplace, i.e., those who lease or rent the workplace from an owner, are required to notify a Director of the MLITSD if a JHSC or a health and safety representative, if any, has identified potential structural inadequacies of a building, structure, or any part thereof, or any other part of a workplace, whether temporary or permanent, as a source of danger or hazard to workers [clause 25(2)(n) and subsection 25(5)].

A structural inadequacy could be an issue with part of the workplace building or structure that may be faulty and/or unsafe due to:

  • damage
  • distress
  • deterioration or instability of a roof, wall, beam or support
  • severe watertightness issues such as a failed waterproofing system

This could include the building or any other part of the workplace, whether temporary or permanent.

In addition to notice requirements in sections 51, 52 and 53, the regulations may specify additional notice requirements that must be met in the circumstances described in those sections, including specifying who is required to provide the notice, the timeframe in which it shall be provided and any other information and particulars it must contain [section 53.1].

Notices of project

In prescribed circumstances, a constructor may also be required to give written notice to the MLITSD, containing prescribed information, before work begins on a project [subsection 23(2)].

Content last reviewed May 2019.