Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL) inspectors have targeted 200 medium-sized construction projects in the Central West Region (CWR) during February under a pilot inspection program designed to improve compliance with provincial regulations covering portable restrooms and clean-up facilities. The goal: to ultimately reduce the number of orders issued under sections 29 and 30 of Ontario Regulation 213/9.
While the language used in the regulations allows MOL inspectors to show some discretion in how they are enforced, the rules will tighten in February, attendees were told at a construction hygiene awareness session hosted by the Infrastructure Health & Safety Association (IHSA) in Toronto on Jan. 17.
“The words ‘adequate,’ ‘possible’ or ‘reasonably possible’ pop up a lot in these regulations,” says Randy Cooper, regional program coordinator, Construction Health and Safety, CWR.
“We’ve been providing less guidance to our inspectors to say ‘that is adequate’ and ‘that is not adequate’ in this section of our regulations and we want to close those gaps. We aren’t trying to take away an inspector’s discretion. However, we are trying to eliminate grey areas.”
Following consultation with the IHSA and the Ontario Association of Sewage Industry Services (OASIS), the MOL has put some flesh on the bones of the regulations for CWR in February. For example, for the purposes of the regional initiative, “adequate” heat inside toilet facilities will require more than the prevention of freezing, says Cooper.
“We have to be mindful of extremely cold weather but we talked to OASIS and asked them what sorts of ambient temperatures were achievable,” he says. “We came down a bit off of that and we’re now saying we think that 10 degrees Celsius is a benchmark for comfort. We aren’t going to walk around with pocket thermometers, but we’re going to message the comfort of the user to construction employers.”
Provincial regulations allow constructors some leeway in the provision of heated toilets and clean-up facilities on project sites located in remote and unpopulated areas. However, Cooper says that inspectors are being told that no location in the CWR meets that description. The initiative also defines the medium-sized projects that will be targeted as those which regularly employ five or more workers and will last more than three months.
The results of the February MOL initiative will be examined for possible further roll-out across the province.
“We don’t have a problem with the Ministry of Labour inspectors enforcing the regulations, as long as they’re equally enforced,” notes Roger Winter, vice-president of K. Winter Sanitation Inc., a portable restroom operator and manufacturer of portable restroom units based in Innisfil, Ont.
“But we shouldn’t have to compete with portable restrooms that are non-compliant.”
Recent Comments
comments for this post are closed