Ministry of Labour Inspections and Investigations Procedure

The Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) provides Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD) Inspectors with broad powers, including entering any workplace without prior notice. This Procedure outlines the Durham District School Board’s required actions once a MLITSD inspection has been initiated. This Procedure complies with applicable Legislation and Standards, including Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act.

2.1 Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training, and Skills Development (MLITSD)
Field Visit: The MLITSD inspectors conduct regular field visits. These inspections are done to ensure compliance with the OHSA. These visits can be proactive or reactive. 

Proactive Visits: Inspectors conduct proactive visits to raise awareness of known workplace hazards, advise workplace parties of their rights, duties, and responsibilities, promote the Internal Responsibilities System, provide compliance assistance, and check that workplaces are following occupational health and safety legislation. 

Reactive Visits: A reactive visit may be conducted as a response to a fatality, critical injury, work refusal, complaint, occupational illness, or other health and safety related event in the workplace.

2.2 Supervisor: Under the OHSA, the supervisor is defined as “a person who has charge of the workplace or authority over a worker.” Within the DDSB, a supervisor is defined as:

• Superintendents
• System Leads
• Principals and/or Vice-Principals
• Managers 
• Supervisors

2.3 Orders: MLITSD written direction given when a contravention under the OHSA is found.

3.1 Supervisor

School administrators and/or Supervisors are responsible for notifying the Health and Safety Department immediately if an MLITSD inspector attends the workplace. 

The Administrator and/or Supervisor shall be available to accompany the MLISTD Inspector. 

Administrators must ensure the signed copy of the Field Visit Report is posted on their site safety bulletin board for 14 days unless otherwise directed. 

The Administrator or Supervisor must work with the Health and Safety Department on any required follow-up actions.

The School Administrators and/or Supervisors must ensure that the Health and Safety Department are promptly provided with the original MLITSD Field Visit Report. 

3.2 Health and Safety Department

The Health and Safety Department will attend the workplace and contact a Joint Health and Committee (JHSC) worker representative for the opportunity to be present. 

The Health and Safety Department will serve as the main contact between the Board and MLITSD Inspector. 

The Health and Safety Department will liaise with School Administrators and/or Supervisor to take any corrective actions or complete items identified in the Order. 

The Health and Safety Department will provide copies of all MLITSD reports to the JHSC.

The Ministry of Labour Immigration, Training, and Skills Development– Inspections and Investigations Procedure applies to all DDSB worksites and will be followed by all DDSBemployees.

5.1. Active Inspection and Investigation

Upon the arrival of an MLITSD Inspector, the Administrator and/or Supervisor must notify the Health and Safety Department. The Administrator and/or Supervisor shall accompany the inspector during the course of their visit. The Inspector may ask to see a worker health and safety representative or a JHSC worker representative. The Inspector may ask for documentation, including training records and documents required to be posted under the OHSA (ie. Health and safety bulletin boards). 

The inspector will provide a Field Visit Report that may contain follow-up actions. 

5.2 Follow Up Actions

The Field Visit Report is to be signed by the Administrator and/or Supervisor and the worker representative. A copy of the report will be posted to the Health and Safety Bulletin Board for 14 days, unless otherwise directed. 

The inspector may issue compliance commitments, orders, or tickets for fines. Orders may be issued if the inspector identifies contraventions of the OHSA and a Notice of Compliance Form will be provided. The Administrator and/or Supervisor will work with the Health and Safety Department to determine corrective actions. The Health and Safety Department will ensure that the MLITSD is frequently updated as orders are 
addressed and complete the Notice of Compliance Form with appropriate consultation with the JHSC Worker Representative. 

5.3 Records Management

All records related to MLITSD activities are held by the Health & Safety Department and shall be managed in accordance with the Board’s Records and Information Management (RIM) Procedure and the Records Retention and Classification Schedule (RRCS).

• Occupational Health and Safety Act