In November, the Ontario Ministry of Labour announced amendments to the Occupational Health & Safety Act, which introduce new mandatory awareness training for workers and supervisors.

This training will become mandatory for all workers and supervisors in Ontario on July 1, 2014.

Free workbooks and e-learning videos are available on the MOL website now. Training takes approximately 1 hour. Workers and Supervisors completing the on-line training receive a certificate of completion, which is valid for their career.

Organizations who can demonstrate that they already provide awareness training as part of their Health & Safety training may be exempt.

The awareness training does not replace the need for specific Health & Safety training on workplace hazards and WHMIS.