Electricity Today T&D Magazine

Utilities ready for Ontario health and safety awareness training

BY PHILL FELTHAM, Editor-in-Chief
Electricity Today Magazine

The Government of Ontario has implemented new regulations that require mandatory basic occupational health and safety training. The new regulations, “Occupational Health and Safety Awareness and Training”, under the province’s Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA), set out a number of requirements.

First, the regulation sets out the minimum content necessary for both worker and supervisor awareness training programs. For example, workers and supervisory must be trained on their rights and duties under the OHSA as well as know the role of joint...

Line-construction contractors can do their best to train the management, offer safety training and equipment and trust the foremen who are appointed to a job, but it is an inherently dangerous business. Despite all the safeguards, some new linemen say this is what some foremen tell them about safety procedures: “That’s the way you may have learned it in training, but this is how it’s done on the job ...”
Training is designed to keep linemen safe. But is that training and equipment being put to proper use? The answer varies depending on the job and the foreman—more so than...