In 2014, Jim DiNovo spent $5,000 on provincially mandated worker and supervisor safety awareness training to a standard he considered to be far lower than what his company delivered in-house.
So no wonder DiNovo, president of BML Multi Trades Group, warily eyes an Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL) proposal to mandate construction hazard awareness training.
The proposal, which involves changing a regulation under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, would apply to 450,000 workers in construction across Ontario. It calls for six-and-a-half hours of in-class training and for employers to ensure their workers take the classes.
Factor in time for lunch, breaks and the training, now a full day could cost the Brantford, Ont. trade contractor between $16,000 to $26,000 to deliver the course to its 50 to 80 tradespeople, based on $50 per hour per worker, DiNovo says.
The headache isn’t simply the expense.
"It’s the time and the disruption to business and the administration to administer these things and to monitor," he says.
DiNovo, who is also treasurer on the board of the Council of Ontario Construction Associations (COCA), isn’t the only one worried about the proposal.
Mike Gzik, corporate safety officer for G.S. Wark Limited general contractors in Hamilton, Ont. says the ministry rushed the program and didn’t consult enough with industry. Moreover, the program follows several other recent mandatory safety training initiatives within the past two years, such as safety awareness and working at heights training.
"We all want to make sure our workers are protected and that they’re fully trained," he says. "This is just too much to handle all at the same time. They need to slow down a little bit to give people a breather."
He wonders too why employers are responsible for ensuring workers have the training.
"If there is a government database behind it, then a person can go company to company," he suggests, as many of those who work in construction may not be employed long-term by any one employer. "We would just need to see their card," proving they’ve taken and passed the course, he says.
Shelley Hisey, health and safety officer with Bradanick Construction Services Inc. in Orillia, Ont. says she’s worried about how well smaller subtrades and workers in more remote areas of the province will be able to access the course if it’s not offered online.
"For smaller companies, if it’s not readily available and they’re having to pay travelling time to get to where the course is and possibly accommodation, etc., it just adds to the cost of training," she says.
She recalls one project Bradanick did in Sioux Lookout.
"I had to send them (workers) to Dryden or Kenora," she says. Even though the course was only a couple of hours, overnight accommodation had to be arranged because the risk of running into wildlife at night was too high. Even finding the sessions can be challenging. Private trainers are available, but they’re more expensive, she says.
That’s why online training is essential, she adds. Similar training programs in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan are offered online.
Including an electronic training option is one of the changes that COCA calls for in its submission to the ministry. The proposed regulatory changes public consultation period ended Aug. 8.
"This program has to be made available online," says Ian Cunningham, COCA president. "Where is the Ministry of Labour or where is the industry going to come up with the training capacity to deliver training to 450,000 construction workers?"
The proposal to mandate construction hazard awareness training originated in a 2010 occupational health and safety expert advisory panel report recommendation. The recommendation called for the development of mandatory entry-level training for construction workers.
Cunningham says the ministry’s current proposal goes far beyond the original recommendation, which was reached through close consultation with the industry. The current approach does not appear to have been developed with a clear description of the "end game" or with an idea of how to measure progress and the program’s effectiveness, he says.
Nor is it the council’s view that every worker should take the training.
"Any mandatory entry level training program for construction workers must be for new entrants only," the submission says.
It also notes the chances of new entrants sustaining a workplace injury are six times greater than those of someone with experience.
DiNovo suggests offering the program as part of apprenticeship training or maybe even in high schools.
Cunningham says many in the industry suggest the province would better protect the health and safety of workers by allocating resources to the enforcement of the "underground" economy.
"This is where a great deal of injuries and accidents take place," he says.
John Mandarino, executive director of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA) Canadian Tri-Fund, says employers may not have to shoulder all of the responsibility for training when unionized labour is involved. His union may already cover many of the topics that would be touched on in the program in apprenticeship and member training. The overlap may mean the union is well positioned to have some existing programs certified under the new training requirement, he says.
"We’re going to share the requirement for training our members," he says.
The hazard awareness proposal will also require employers to do some on-the-job training, he adds.
"But obviously we’re concerned too. We want to make sure our members have it so they can go to work," he says.
Mandarino says he’s not sure the safety training being proposed can be delivered online. Not every course is suitable for such delivery.
An MOL response to emailed questions noted submissions received during the public consultation process are being reviewed and analyzed.
"The submissions will be carefully considered before the ministry finalizes its proposals and seeks regulatory approval," says ministry spokesperson Janet Deline. "The effective date of the proposal, if approved, will be set out in the regulation."
According to the proposal, the industry will have a two-year grace period for compliance before the regulation takes effect. The proposal would apply to all employers who engage in construction and require them to ensure workers "performing work to which the Construction Projects Regulation applies complete a construction hazard awareness training program."
Workers must obtain the training from a ministry-accredited source. According to the proposal, however, businesses that employ more than 20 employees could deliver their own training as long as it meets the regulatory standards.
Gzik says he’d like to qualify as an instructor to deliver in-house training, but he probably won’t. He didn’t obtain accreditation as a "working at heights instructor" when that training became mandatory in 2015. Certification would have cost $3,000 to $4,000 and required buying specialized equipment each time the course was taught.
"Do I then have to pay to go for a course that I’ve taught for 23 years because they (the province) say so?" he asks.
And while DiNovo’s business qualifies to deliver in-house training, he too doubts BML would exercise that option if the regulation ever comes into effect because of the costs to administer it and obtain the proper trainer certifications.
"I would just take my employees and put them in a room, do the training, get it over with, pay the money and delay my business and everything else," he says.
"The cost of compliance in Ontario is just constantly escalating. And this is just another example of it, and the government doesn’t seem to hear. This is a small business person and the costs of compliance do increase the costs of doing business and makes us less competitive in our own markets."
According to Workplace Safety and Insurance Board statistics, there were 276 traumatic fatalities in Ontario’s construction sector between 2002 and 2015.
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