Scott Vaughan, the federal Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, has been busy releasing his annual reports. On Oct. 4, he released his report on Canada’s climate change efforts. And on Dec. 13, he tabled in Parliament his report on Canada’s efforts to enforce …

Environmental training can help you prove due diligence–or undercut your due diligence defence.

The NIOSH Science Blog recently noted that being “green” is sexy and in vogue. It gets splashed on billboards and endorsed by celebrities. Safety on the other hand? Not so much. Thomas Cunningham, Ph.D, and Garrett Burnett, MS, MBA point out that over the past …

Do you know everything about lightning safety? Think again.

Six months in prison for a company’s sole director for failing to comply with an MOE order to remove oil-contaminated soil from its property—his third conviction for an environmental offence [Ian Herd];Four months in prison—plus a $71,000 fine—for the president of two companies convicted of …

Government inspectors may appear in your workplace for a routine inspection or in response to an environmental or safety incident. It’s critical that the company properly deals with inspectors. For example, making it difficult for inspectors to do their job could result in obstruction charges—and …

It seems like high fines and penalties for environmental violations are becoming the norm. For example, last year, an Alberta oil company was convicted of violating both federal and Alberta environmental law in the deaths of hundreds of birds that landed on its tailing pond …

On January 25, 2011, the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy released a report (Climate Prosperity- Parallel Paths: Canada- U.S. Climate Policy Choices) on the economic and environmental implications of Canada harmonizing its climate change policies and laws with the US. The report’s conclusion: …

Ever wonder how much the environmental damage we do to the planet costs? Well, the folks at the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and UNEP Finance Initiative did, so they conducted a study to quantify in monetary terms the environmental harm caused by business …

In a prior blog, I addressed the disparity in the amount of fines imposed for safety violations across Canada. Think fines are any more consistent for environmental offences? Apparently not. Nimonik.ca just released a survey of environmental fines imposed throughout the country and came to …