On April 1st the Ministry of Labour's new Working at Heights regulations for the construction sector came into effect.  Under the regulation anyone working at a height of 3 metres or 10 feet is required to have training by a provincially approved and recognized training partner.   Anyone who has taken working at heights training in the past will have two years to comply to the new training standard.  Any workers new to the sector will have to have the training before they start working.  

20 people die every year in Ontario because of falls.  1 in 5 lost time injuries in Ontario is the result of a fall.  The MoL is trying to stop this incidents from happening.

Here at Redhead Health and Safety our application to training this new program is now before the Ministry.  We are hoping to have approval before the end of June.

The OHSA defines construction as "including erection, alteration, repair, dismantling, demolition, structural maintenance, painting, land clearing, earth moving, grading, excavation, trenching, digging, boring, drilling, blasting, or concreting, the installation of any machinery or plant, and any work or undertaking in connection with a project but does not include any work or undertaking underground in a mine."   So if the work you do falls into any of these areas you are considered construction and the new working at heights regulations apply to you.