There’s no time for a summer lull for Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL) policy advisers taking the next steps to advance harmonized interprovincial health and safety standards for construction workers.
In April, labour ministers from across Canada endorsed a workplan with accelerated timelines to harmonize the health and safety accreditation required by the construction trades in each jurisdiction, pursuant to Ontario’s One Canada, One Standard advocacy.
Targets for the plan include harmonized training for Working at Heights and Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWP) by Jan. 1, 2027; consultation on Hoisting and Rigging and Trenching and Shoring standards also by Jan. 1, 2027; and collaboration on Entry-level Construction Worker and Construction Supervisor training by May 2027.
The next deadline is just months away, with the partners committed to meeting in Nova Scotia this fall and Saskatchewan in the spring of 2027 to track progress.
Ontario MOL policy adviser Karam Sodhi, a specialist on health and safety harmonization, says the scenario requires tight focus as standards are drafted this summer.
Ontario currently does not have entry-level construction worker and construction supervisor training standards so a subcommittee of the Canadian Association of Administrators of Labour Legislation (CAALL) is hard at work pulling those together, he said.
“It’s a very eventful summer,” said Sodhi in a recent interview. “Ontario doesn’t have entry level, but B.C. has it, Quebec has it. So we’re using other provinces that have these regulations and creating one new regulation.”
Boosting worker mobility
Ontario Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development David Piccini championed the province’s One Canada, One Standard campaign at the ministers’ meeting in Quebec City in April.
The ministers agreed duplication of requirements for health and safety certification reduces worker mobility, adds costs for employers and tends to delay major projects.
Ontario pointed out on a large construction project with 1,500 workers, requiring out-of-province workers to retake Working at Heights training could add roughly $270,000 in direct costs and pull about 10,500 hours away from productive work.
“What we heard from a lot of unions and employers was, if we’re working on nation-building projects, a worker that’s working on the border of say Alberta and B.C., and switching over province to province, has to be retrained,” said Sodhi. “Obviously that lowers productivity.
“It’s just honestly a waste of money when the training is fundamentally the same.”
Sodhi said the MOL conducted a survey of Ontario stakeholders, presenting a list of 20 health and safety standards for potential harmonization and asking which five are the most urgent. Those results formed the basis for Ontario’s submission to the national CAALL meeting in Quebec City.
Sodhi explained, “Unions and employers would say, ‘Hey, I have workers across provincial borders, and we struggle with the MEWP training. One gets trained in B.C., and that same training doesn’t apply in Ontario. So I have to spend an extra $300 to retrain my worker for eight hours.’”
No compromises
Sodhi said ministers agreed the harmonized standards must reflect the highest quality of training, not a compromise. Ontario argued its Working at Heights training is the most rigorous in the country, pointing out the province has seen a 17-per-cent reduction in injuries.
Meanwhile, Sodhi said, “B.C. and Ontario do really well in hoisting and rigging, so we’re like, ‘Why not merge two standards and create one new standard that everyone can then follow?’
“A good quote that the minister likes using is, ‘we’re not trying to lower the bar, we’re trying to lower the barrier.’”
In Quebec City the ministers endorsed working toward implementing credentials recognition for tradespersons across the country through the use of digital verification by spring 2027.
“We want to have a system in place like an Apple Wallet, we want to keep all their credentials,” said Sodhi. “So if someone is travelling from province to province and an inspector comes, they can show that and say, ‘Look, I have this training.’”
Ontario’s Bill 105, Protecting Ontario’s Workers and Economic Resilience Act, 2026, contains the new training standards for MEWP training. Sodhi said the standard follows the CSA’s MEWP training protocols, which he said are the strongest in Canada. Bill 105 has not yet received royal assent.
