What must be reported after a construction incident in Ontario?
Under Ontario's Occupational Health and Safety Act, a death or critical injury is reported to an inspector immediately, with a written report within 48 hours. An accident that disables a worker or needs medical attention gets written notice within 4 days, and a dangerous occurrence at a project within 2 days.
Which notice, by what happened
- Someone is killed or critically injured: the inspector is told immediately, the scene is left undisturbed, and a written report follows within 48 hours.
- Nobody dies or is critically injured, but a worker is disabled from usual work or needs medical attention: written notice within 4 days.
- A prescribed dangerous occurrence at a project site: written notice within 2 days.
- Where the incident involves a failure of works, a structure, an engineered excavation wall or a crane: an engineer's opinion on the cause within 14 days.
- Every report and notice is kept for 36 months.
| Duty | Window and section | If missed |
|---|---|---|
| Notify an inspector, and the joint health and safety committee, health and safety representative and trade union, immediately when a person is killed or critically injured at a workplace | none sets 51(1), 66; O. Reg. 420/21 s 1(1) | an offenceLapsed compliance |
| Leave the wreckage and scene of a fatality or critical injury undisturbed until an inspector permits | none sets 51(2), 66 | an offenceLapsed compliance |
| Send a Director, and the committee, representative and trade union, a written report within 48 hours after a person is killed or critically injured at a workplace | 48 hourss 51(1), 66; O. Reg. 420/21 s 3, 7 | an offenceLapsed compliance |
| Give written notice within 4 days when a worker is disabled from usual work or needs medical attention because of an accident, explosion, fire or workplace violence | 4 dayss 52(1)-(3), 66; O. Reg. 420/21 s 1(1), 3 | an offenceLapsed compliance |
| Give a Director, and the committee, representative and trade union, written notice within 2 days of a prescribed dangerous occurrence at a project site | 2 dayss 53(1), (2)(a), 66; O. Reg. 420/21 s 4 | an offenceLapsed compliance |
| Supplement the report or notice with an engineer's written opinion on the cause within 14 days after a failure of works, a structure, an engineered excavation wall or a crane | 14 daysOHSA s 53.1; O. Reg. 420/21 s 5 | an offenceLapsed compliance |
| Keep a copy of every written report or notice under sections 51 to 53.1 for at least 3 years | 36 monthsO. Reg. 420/21 s 6 | an offenceLapsed compliance |
What the library notes on each duty
Quoted a whole sentence at a time from the library's note on each row.
Notify an inspector, and the joint health and safety committee, health and safety representative and trade union, immediately when a person is killed or critically injured at a workplace
s 51(1), 66; O. Reg. 420/21 s 1(1) · none set · an offence
- Binds the constructor and the employer, by telephone or other direct means.
- 'Immediately', with no hour count, so no window is recorded.
Leave the wreckage and scene of a fatality or critical injury undisturbed until an inspector permits
s 51(2), 66 · none set · an offence
- Except to save life or relieve suffering, maintain an essential public utility or public transportation, or prevent unnecessary damage to equipment or property.
- No window: the duty lasts until the inspector gives permission.
Send a Director, and the committee, representative and trade union, a written report within 48 hours after a person is killed or critically injured at a workplace
s 51(1), 66; O. Reg. 420/21 s 3, 7 · 48 hours · an offence
- Binds the employer.
- The report gives the employer's and worker's details, the constructor's name and address for an occurrence at a project, the nature and circumstances of the occurrence and any machinery or procedure involved, its time, date and place, the attending practitioner or facility, witnesses, and the steps taken to prevent a recurrence (O. Reg. 420/21 s 3(2)); it may be filed on the government's website (s 7).
Give written notice within 4 days when a worker is disabled from usual work or needs medical attention because of an accident, explosion, fire or workplace violence
s 52(1)-(3), 66; O. Reg. 420/21 s 1(1), 3 · 4 days · an offence
- Binds the employer, where nobody dies or is critically injured.
- The notice goes to the committee, representative and trade union, and to a Director only if an inspector requires it (s 52(1)).
- 'Medical attention' means treatment by a legally qualified medical practitioner or a registered nurse holding an extended certificate of registration (O. Reg. 420/21 s 1(1)).
- The same 4 days apply to notice to a Director, committee or representative and union after the employer is told a worker or former worker has an occupational illness or a WSIB claim for one (s 52(2), (3)).
Give a Director, and the committee, representative and trade union, written notice within 2 days of a prescribed dangerous occurrence at a project site
s 53(1), (2)(a), 66; O. Reg. 420/21 s 4 · 2 days · an offence
- Binds the constructor.
- Occurrences: an accident, unexpected explosion, fire, flood or inrush of water, cave-in or subsidence, or an equipment failure that could have risked a worker (s 53(1); O. Reg. 420/21 s 4(1)), and on a construction project a fall of 3 metres or more, a fall arrested by a fall arrest system other than a fall restricting system, a worker becoming unconscious, contact with energized electrical equipment, a crane or similar equipment contacting a conductor over 750 volts, and structural failures of engineered falsework, a principal supporting member, scaffold supports, an earth or water retaining structure or an engineered excavation wall, and crane overturning or loss of control of a crane or load (O. Reg. 420/21 s 4(3) para 2).
- Not needed to the Director if a s 51 report or s 52 notice already went to one (s 53(1)(b)).
Supplement the report or notice with an engineer's written opinion on the cause within 14 days after a failure of works, a structure, an engineered excavation wall or a crane
OHSA s 53.1; O. Reg. 420/21 s 5 · 14 days · an offence
- Binds the constructor or employer who reported or notified under s 51, 52 or 53, where the incident at a construction project involves a failure of temporary or permanent works, a structure, an excavation wall an engineer had declared stable, or a crane or similar hoisting device, or a failure to control a crane or load (O. Reg. 420/21 s 5(1)(a), (a.1)).
Keep a copy of every written report or notice under sections 51 to 53.1 for at least 3 years
O. Reg. 420/21 s 6 · 36 months · an offence
- Binds the employer or constructor, from the date the report or notice is made.
The penalty
Contravening the Act or a regulation is an offence: an individual faces a fine of up to CAD 500,000, up to 12 months' imprisonment, or both, and a corporation a fine of up to CAD 2,000,000 (OHSA s 66(1), (2)).
What this page is, and is not
It is the section text this library holds for Ontario's Construction Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.30 (Ontario), the Occupational Health and Safety Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. O.1 (Ontario) and Construction Projects, O. Reg. 213/91 (Ontario), with the window and the consequence. It is not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for reading the Acts, the regulations and the contract you signed.
Demiton does not yet track Ontario projects. These pages set out the duties; the product does not run these checks on an Ontario job today.
No library of law is complete, and Demiton never says this one is. An obligation the library does not hold, and you did not add, is not protected. You can add your own to any job.