LAWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

JHSCs

Oct 8: CNESST posted a regulation proposing to postpone the deadline for the first cohorts of JHSC member and health and safety representative OHS certification training for 6 months. The new deadlines will vary depending on the risk classification of the site and when the member or representative is first appointed.

Action Point: Find out more about JHSC training requirements across Canada.

JHSCs

Oct 9: The newly reconvened Québec Assembly is debating Bill 101 creating special rules governing the establishment of safety committees and appointment of safety representatives at education and health and social services sectors establishments, including with regard to committee/representative functions and the minimum amount of time members/representatives may devote to those functions.

Action Point: Find out about the 16 steps you must take to comply with the OHS JHSC requirements of your province.

Respiratory Protection

Oct 1: CNESST’s newly published draft OHS regulations require employers to provide workers exposed to non-infectious bioaerosols respiratory protective equipment that meets CSA Z94.4, Selection, Use and Care of Respirators and prevent or limit the presence of visible mould contamination at workstations. The agency will take comments on the proposal for 45 days.

Action Point: Find out how to implement an effective Respiratory Protection Equipment Compliance Game Plan at your site.

Lighting

Oct 1: CNESST proposed regulatory changes that would align the workplace lighting requirements contained in Division XIV of the OHS Regulations “with the current workplace environment” to make it possible to regulate lighting for VDU work and visual nuisances such as glare and strobe effects. Annex VI will also be adjusted to include a greater number of tasks or areas of activity, update certain work tasks and propose more detailed requirements. The proposal is open to public comments for 45 days.

Action Point: Find out how to comply with OHS emergency lighting requirements. 

Confined Spaces

Oct 1: CNESST wants to revise the OHS Regulations to allow for options other than bleach for disinfection within confined spaces.

Action Point: Find out how to implement a Confined Spaces Compliance Game Plan to save lives and prevent OHS penalties.

Industry Challenges

Oct 8: CNESST published for 45 days’ comment proposed changes to OHS mining regulations imposing new requirements for mine rescue, training for extraction machine operators, protection of emergency exits, rail-driven vehicles without on-board engines, haulage convoys, autonomous vehicles, cable inspection, explosives boxes and loading areas.

New Laws

Oct 8: The Québec Assembly tabled but will unlikely pass Private Member Bill 190 requiring companies with 50 or more employees to establish workplace “parity committees” with at least half of its members representing workers to help advance the business’s “just transition towards an environmentally sustainable economy.” Such committees would be the environmental/social justice equivalent of JHSCs with authority to recommend green jobs, equitable requalification, social dialog, and climate justice.

Environmental

Sep 26: To support the auto industry, Québec announced that it will lift the ban on the sale of new gasoline vehicles in 2035. It also pared back the previous target of 100% zero-emission vehicles by 2035 with a target of 90%, combining electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles while relaxing annual sales targets for electric vehicles.

CASES

Drugs & Alcohol: Firing Alcoholic Employee for Absenteeism Is Failure to Accommodate

A paper plant suspended and eventually fired a veteran machine operator for a repeated pattern of not showing up for work. The union contended that the unexcused absences were the result of mental health problems related to alcoholism and sued the plant for not reasonably accommodating the operator’s disability. After hearing from all of the witnesses, the Québec arbitrator handed down a mixed ruling: The 5-day suspension was justified but dismissal was not. The plant knew about the operator’s mental and alcohol issues having offered him treatment once before. But in concluding that the operator was irredeemable and that further treatment would be useless, the plant violated its duty to accommodate. The plant should have at least sought to do a medical assessment before firing the operator, the arbitrator reasoned in reducing the penalty to a 30-day suspension [Unifor, Section Locale 905 c SEC FF Soucy WB, 2025 CanLII 97802 (QC SAT), September 16, 2025].

Action Point: Find out how to use the OHS Insider Substance Abuse Compliance Game Plan to curb drugs and alcohol at your workplace without violating workers’ rights to reasonable accommodations for disabilities.