OHS Act Definition of “Workplace”

The duty to control workplace hazards may extend to off-site locations. That’s because the OHS laws define the word “workplace” broadly to include not just the four corners of the physical site but any location in which the work is carried out. Here’s the specific definition of each jurisdiction.

Jurisdiction Definition of “Workplace”
Federal Work place means any place where an employee is engaged in work for the employee’s employer (Canada Labour Code, Sec. 122(1))
Alberta Work site means a location where a worker is, or is likely to be, engaged in any occupation and includes any vehicle or mobile equipment used by a worker in an occupation (OHS Act, Sec. 1(cc))
BC Workplace means any place where a worker is or is likely to be engaged in any work and includes any vessel, vehicle or mobile equipment used by a worker in work (Workers’ Compensation Act, Sec. 106)
Manitoba Workplace means any building, site, workshop, structure, mine, mobile vehicle, or any other premises or location whether indoors or outdoors in which one or more workers, or self-employed persons, are engaged in work or have worked (Workplace Safety & Health Act, Sec. 1)
New Brunswick Place of employment means any building, structure, premises, water or land where work is carried on by one or more employees, and includes a project site, a mine, a ferry, a train and any vehicle used or likely to be used by an employee (OHS Act, Sec. 1)
Newfoundland & Labrador Workplace means a place where a worker or self-employed person is engaged in an occupation and includes a vehicle or mobile equipment used by a worker in an occupation (OHS Act, Sec. 2(n))
Nova Scotia Workplace means any place where an employee or a self-employed person is or is likely to be engaged in any occupation and includes any vehicle or mobile equipment used or likely to be used by an employee or a self-employed person in an occupation (OHS Act, Sec. 3(ah))
Ontario Workplace means any land, premises, location or thing at, upon, in or near which a worker works (OHS Act, Sec. 1)
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND Workplace means a place where a worker is or is likely to be engaged in an occupation and includes a vehicle, fishing vessel or mobile equipment used or likely to be used by a worker in an occupation (OHS Act, Sec. 1(y))
QUBEC Workplace means any place in or at which a person is required to be present out of or in the course of work, including an establishment and construction site;

Establishment means all the installations and equipment grouped on one site and organized under the authority of one person or of related persons in view of producing or distributing goods or services, except a construction site; this word includes, in particular, a school, a construction enterprise and the lodging, eating or recreational facilities put at the disposal of workers by the employer, excepting, however, private lodging facilities;

Construction site means a place where foundation, erection, maintenance, renovation, repair, alteration or demolition work is carried out in respect of a building or of civil engineering works, on and at the site itself, including the preparatory work of land clearing or earth moving and any other work determined by regulation, and the lodging, eating or recreational facilities put at the disposal of the construction workers by the employer;

(OHS Act, Sec. 1)

SASKATCHEWAN Worksite means an area at a place of employment where a worker works or is required or permitted to be present (Sask. Employment Act, Sec. 3-1(1)(hh))
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES & NUNAVUT Work site means a location where a worker is, or is likely to be, engaged in work, or a thing at, on, in or near which a worker is, or is likely to be, engaged in work (Safety Act, Sec. 1)
YUKON Workplace means a place where a worker is engaged in work (OHS Regs., Sec. 1.02)