Randy Hillier, PC Party Critic for Labour, noted today that Peter Fonseca had abruptly changed his position regarding Ontario’s workplace safety laws when he called for a review of workplace safety legislation. After the Christmas Eve scaffolding accident, Minister Fonseca said that there would be no inquiry into the event. Now he’s backtracked and called for a review of the entire workplace safety system. This follows on the heels of Hillier’s call for a criminal investigation into the actions of Ministry of Labour Inspectors in connection with the Gulick Forest Products Case.
“We look forward to the report of the panel, but it doesn’t require a commission to see glaring problems in Ontario’s workplace safety system,” said Hillier, in Sudbury today. “Ministry of Labour Inspectors are supposed to be the guard dogs of the construction sector, but have become their meter maids instead.”
Workplace accidents are not the result of too few inspectors or poor legislation; it is the result of a shift in the ministry’s mandate for its inspectors from a cooperative methodology of education and training of employers and employees to an adversarial one of penalties and fines.
“Worksite inspectors were present at the site of the Christmas Eve scaffolding accident, and they did not stop the accident from happening,” stated Hillier. “Many inspectors have little to no work experience in the construction industry.”
Hillier called upon the McGuinty Government to mandate that inspectors have real construction experience, and change the focus back to accident prevention and education.
“Creating this ‘review’ is just another example of how Dalton McGuinty is passing the buck,” concluded Hillier. “Minister Fonseca needs to work towards real changes, not appoint a committee to do his job for him.”
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Workplace accidents are directly attributable to unsafe working conditions. The effectiveness, or lack of same, of Ministry of Labour inspectors does not cause accidents. The workers killed on December 24th would be alive today if not for the wanton disregard and negligence of their employer. Any employer requiring work at heights knows what has to be done to prevent injury/fatality. If they don’t, they shouldn’t be in business.