Frequently Asked Questions

This is one of the few places all four provinces actually set different numbers. Newfoundland & Labrador requires the atmosphere to test between 20% and 22% oxygen before entry is safe. New Brunswick and PEI both use a wider band — not less than 19.5% and not more than 23%. Nova Scotia sits in between, requiring between 19.5% and 22.5%. In every province, the space has to be tested before entry and periodically afterward — it's never a one-time check.

Newfoundland & Labrador, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia all set the same general trigger: fall protection is required once a worker is exposed to a fall of 3 metres or more above the nearest safe surface or water — and in all three, that threshold drops even lower if the surface below could cause injury on contact (like machinery or an open tank), regardless of the 3-metre mark. PEI doesn't use one blanket height requirement the same way; its requirements are built around specific equipment and situations (ladders, scaffolds, roof work) rather than a single trigger height, so check the specific activity for PEI.

Yes, in all four provinces, and the logic is consistent: before anyone works on machinery, equipment, or an electrical installation that could injure them if it became energized or moved unexpectedly, the energy source has to be isolated using a lockable disconnect — not just the normal stop/start switch. Newfoundland & Labrador additionally requires that parts and attachments be physically secured against unintended movement before work starts, on top of isolating the energy source itself.

Yes, in all four provinces, and the core right is essentially the same: a worker can refuse to do work they have reasonable grounds to believe is dangerous to their own health or safety, or someone else's. Newfoundland & Labrador and Nova Scotia both spell out the process in detail — the employer gets a chance to fix the problem, then the joint health and safety committee (or representative) can investigate, then an officer can investigate, and the worker can stay off that specific work until one of those resolves it. Nova Scotia also requires the worker to report the refusal to a supervisor immediately, then the committee, then the Division if it's still not resolved. PEI's process starts with the supervisor investigating on the spot. New Brunswick's Act states the right itself in a single, shorter section. In NL and Nova Scotia, an employer can reassign a refusing worker to other reasonably equivalent work in the meantime, at the same pay.

All four provinces use the same headline number: once 20 or more workers are regularly employed at a workplace, the employer must establish a joint occupational health and safety committee. Below that threshold, it's generally not mandatory automatically — but Nova Scotia and PEI both let the Director order one to be set up anyway at a smaller workplace (PEI specifically allows this between 6 and 19 employees), and New Brunswick's committee size itself is negotiated between the employer and employees rather than fixed. Every committee has to have equal representation from both sides.

Yes, in all four provinces. If an officer finds a contravention that's a danger or hazard to a worker, they can issue an order on the spot — oral orders have to be confirmed in writing before the officer leaves (or shortly after) — telling the responsible person to fix it. Newfoundland & Labrador, Nova Scotia, and PEI spell out explicitly what that order can include: stopping work at all or part of the workplace, taking equipment out of use, or even clearing and barricading the area until the hazard is gone. New Brunswick's Act grants the same broad order-making power through one general section rather than itemizing those specific options, but the effect is the same — an officer's order is binding whether it was given orally or in writing.

On a construction project, fall protection is required whenever a worker may be exposed to any of several listed hazards — falling more than 3 metres; falling more than 1.2 metres where the area is used as a path for a wheelbarrow or similar equipment; falling into operating machinery (no minimum height); or falling into water or another liquid. A guardrail is also required at an open floor edge or perimeter where a worker could fall 2.4 metres or more. In an industrial workplace, the trigger is a fall of more than three metres to the surface below. Where a guardrail isn't practical, a travel-restraint or fall-arrest system is used.

Ontario sets "acceptable atmospheric levels" for a confined space at an oxygen content of at least 19.5% and not more than 23% by volume — anything outside that band counts as an atmospheric hazard. The atmosphere has to be tested before a worker enters and monitored while anyone is inside; entry isn't allowed until the readings are within the acceptable range.

Yes. Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act a worker may refuse to work or do particular work where they have reason to believe that the equipment they're to use is likely to endanger them, that the physical condition of the workplace is likely to endanger them, or that a contravention of the Act or regulations is likely to endanger them. Some workers — police, firefighters, and certain health-care and correctional roles — have limits on the right where the danger is a normal, inherent part of the job.

A joint health and safety committee is required at any workplace where 20 or more workers are regularly employed. It can also be required at a smaller workplace by a ministry order, or where a designated substance regulation applies. Below that threshold a health and safety representative is generally required instead once there are more than five workers.

An employer must establish a workplace safety and health committee for each workplace with 20 or more workers. At the same 20-worker threshold, the employer also has to have a written workplace safety and health program in place. Smaller workplaces may be required to have a worker representative instead.

Manitoba's fall-protection requirements apply wherever a worker is at risk of falling 3 metres or more — and also at shorter distances where the surface or objects below create an increased risk of injury, or where a worker could fall into operating machinery. A guardrail system is the default; where a guardrail isn't reasonably practical, the employer must use a travel-restraint, fall-restricting, or fall-arrest system instead.

A hazardous confined space has to be purged, ventilated, or both before a worker is allowed to enter, so the atmosphere is safe. Entry runs on a written entry permit, and a designated standby worker must stay at the entrance the entire time anyone is inside the space.

Saskatchewan sets the bar lower than most provinces: an occupational health and safety committee is required at every place of employment where 10 or more workers of one employer work — not the 20-worker threshold used in Ontario and Manitoba. Below 10 workers, the director may still order a committee or require a representative.

An employer or contractor must develop a written fall-protection plan where a worker may fall 3 metres or more and isn't protected by a guardrail or a similar barrier. The plan has to identify the fall hazards and set out the fall-protection system and rescue procedures to be used.

Alberta ties it to how many workers an employer regularly employs. An employer that regularly employs 20 or more workers must establish a joint work site health and safety committee; where 5 to 19 workers are regularly employed, the employer must instead designate a health and safety representative. A Director can also require a committee at a designated work site.

An employer and supervisor must protect a worker from falling where the worker may fall a vertical distance of 3 metres or more at a temporary or permanent work area — and also at a fall of less than 3 metres where there is an unusual possibility of injury. Where a worker may fall 3 metres or more and isn't protected by guardrails, the employer must develop a fall-protection plan for the work site.

Yes. No person, firm or corporation may enter into or work at the business of asbestos removal unless they hold a valid asbestos abatement contractor's certificate. And no one may do asbestos-abatement work at all unless they have completed an approved training course and are qualified — or are part of a crew supervised by a qualified person. NL runs this as its own standalone regulation, separate from the general OHS regulations.

At least seven days. An employer must give written notice to the Chief Compliance Officer — and to the joint health and safety committee, if there is one — at least seven days before proceeding with the initial development or construction of an underground mine, sinking or deepening a shaft, or a major alteration to a mine hoist. This lives in NB's dedicated Underground Mine Regulation.

For most dives, at least four people: one diving supervisor, one diver's tender, one standby diver, and one diver. The standby diver isn't allowed to dive except in a health or safety emergency, and must be fully equipped for the planned depth and conditions the whole time. Certain specific dive types set out in the regulation have their own team requirements.

Yes. An employer must, in consultation with the committee or representative if there is one, develop and implement a written policy to prevent and investigate workplace harassment. PEI's definition of harassment expressly includes bullying, and covers both a single serious incident and repeated conduct. An officer can order an employer that hasn't established a compliant policy to put one in place.

No more than eight hours in any consecutive twenty-four, measured from the time the worker enters the underground mine until they leave it. No worker may remain — or be asked to remain — underground longer than that. It's set in Ontario's Mines and Mining Plants regulation, which is separate from the general industrial and construction regulations.

The employer must, in consultation with the committee, establish written procedures to be followed in the event of a fire or other emergency underground — procedures that effectively provide for the safety of all workers and for controlling the emergency. This is in Manitoba's dedicated Operation of Mines Regulation, on top of the general workplace safety and health regulations.

Yes. Generally, an employer, contractor or owner must provide and maintain two independent exits to the surface from an underground mine. There's a narrow exception during the exploration and development phases, when a single exit can be permitted under the conditions the regulation sets. It comes from The Mines Regulations, 2018 — Saskatchewan's binding, mine-specific regulation.

Alberta treats working alone as a hazard where a worker is alone at a work site and help isn't readily available in an emergency or if they're injured or ill. In that situation the employer must provide an effective means of communication — radio, a landline or cellular phone, or some other equally effective system — and check on the worker at intervals suited to the hazards of the job.