February 28, 2007

Toronto a high risk employer

TORONTO

The City of Toronto has been declared a “high-risk” employer by Ontario’s ministry of labour because of its poor health and safety record, the city’s employee and labour relations committee has heard.

The designation means the city is subject to more intensive and more frequent safety inspections, and must pay higher premiums to the Workplace Safety Insurance Board (WSIB).

Staff say they can’t find out precisely how much extra the city is paying, and that the ministry won’t tell them what other cities share the high-risk designation.

The city paid $29.8 million in WSIB costs in 2006, a figure that’s almost unchanged in the past three years.

High-risk employers make up about two per cent of Ontario’s job providers, but account for 10 per cent of lost-time injuries in the province and 21 per cent of workplace safety insurance claims costs.

The city currently faces one charge under the Occupational Health and Safety Act in the death of a building inspector in 2003. He fell to his death through an unguarded stairway opening. The city faces a charge of failing to provide the worker with sufficient instruction and training.

CANADIAN PRESS

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