Ontario, trade unions sign deal to harmonize safety standards

Key Takeaways:

• Canada’s Building Trades Unions and the Ontario government are working together to harmonize health and safety standards and certifications, aiming to remove interprovincial barriers that limit worker mobility and slow infrastructure projects.
• The initiative, led nationally by Ontario Labour Minister David Piccini, seeks to eliminate costly and time-consuming recertification requirements while maintaining high safety standards for a workforce of roughly 600,000 skilled tradespeople.
• Supporters say aligned certifications will create a more mobile, productive, and safer construction workforce, better positioned to deliver large, nation-building infrastructure projects across Canada.

The Whole Story:

Canada’s Building Trades Unions (CBTU) and the Ontario government have announced a collaborative effort to harmonize national safety standards and certifications for construction workers across the country.

The initiative, supported by Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development David Piccini, aims to dismantle interprovincial barriers that prevent skilled tradespeople from moving between provinces for work. Currently, varying health and safety certification standards across Canada often require workers to undergo recertification, which the CBTU says costs time and money while causing delays to infrastructure projects.

Minister Piccini was recently designated by provincial premiers and labour ministers to lead the national initiative. The CBTU’s Canadian Executive Board unanimously passed a resolution in Ottawa to support the alignment of these standards.

“The unanimous approval of this resolution reflects CBTU and our affiliates’ unwavering dedication to our brothers and sisters working to build Canada,” said Sean Strickland, executive director of Canada’s Building Trades Unions, in a news release. “To ensure our members can be where the work is, we must streamline safety certifications between provinces, to uphold the highest standard of safety, while creating opportunities that put our members to work.”

The CBTU represents 14 international unions and approximately 600,000 skilled trades workers in Canada. The organization stated that harmonizing certifications is critical to ensuring the workforce is trained to consistent standards and ready for “nation-building projects.”

“By strengthening and working to align health and safety standards across Canada, we’re raising the bar and lowering the barriers that hold back growth,” Piccini said. “Working with our partners nationwide, these efforts will create safer workplaces, support a more agile workforce, and help Ontario deliver the nation-building projects that drive long-term economic growth.”

The initiative envisions an aligned workforce capable of participating in infrastructure efforts coast-to-coast to improve productivity.