Carolyn Johnston, an associate at Torkin Manes LLP, fields a question from a reader on providing suitable climate conditions in the workplace
QUESTION: What obligations does an employer have with respect to providing suitable climate conditions in an indoor workplace, such as temperature and lighting? If climate control equipment fails, is an employer required to send employees home or can an employer try to keep operations going until the end of the day?
ANSWER: Each province has its own occupational health and safety legislation that governs the physical conditions of a workplace.
In Ontario, an employer is obligated under the Occupational Health and Safety Act to take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker. That duty requires employers to ensure the physical conditions of the workplace, including temperature and lighting of the workplace, are safe.
Many Canadian occupational health and safety regulations specify upper and lower temperature limits for work performed inside buildings which are normally heated. In Ontario, an employer is required to keep a workplace at a temperature that is suitable for the type of work performed and not less than 18 C.
However, an employer is permitted to have a workplace temperature less than 18 C if the particular workplace falls within an exception set out in the legislation. For example, in circumstances where perishable goods require lower temperatures or where there is a necessity of opening doors.
Although no maximum temperature is prescribed under the legislation in Ontario, the Ministry of Labour has issued a policy recommending that employers adopt the threshold limit values (TLVs) for heat stress and heat strain published by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists. The TLVs are based on preventing an unacclimatized worker’s core temperature from rising above 38 C.
The level of lighting in a workplace is also an important occupational health and safety issue. In Ontario, an employer is obligated to provide adequate lighting. Where natural lighting is inadequate to ensure the safety of a worker, the legislation creates an obligation for an employer to provide artificial lighting.
Shadows and glare must be reduced to a minimum. Natural lighting is only adequate if it is sufficient to protect a worker from an occupational illness or occupational injury.
If the employer fails to provide a safe work environment, a worker may refuse to work in certain circumstances. Workers must be cognizant of the fact that there is often a fine line between comfort and safety and it is not always easy to determine the difference.
In Ontario, a worker’s right to refuse to work is limited to circumstances where the employee has reason to believe that the physical condition of the workplace is likely to endanger him or herself or others.
However, that right does not permit the worker to simply take the remainder of the day off. Legislation requires that the worker report the dangerous circumstances to the employer who will then commence an investigation. The worker must remain available to the employer while the investigation is conducted.
If the dangerous conditions persist, the worker may continue to refuse to work, however a higher objective standard is imposed on the worker. The worker may refuse to work only if he has “reasonable grounds” to believe that to perform the particular work would continue to endanger him or herself or others.
The worker or employer must then contact a Ministry of Labour inspector who will commence a second investigation. Again, pending that investigation, the worker cannot simply leave for the day. The worker must remain in a safe place that is near as is reasonably possible to his or her work station and be available to the inspector for the purposes of the investigation.
In such circumstances, the employer is permitted to assign the worker reasonable alternative work or provide other directions.
Carolyn Johnston is an associate in the labour relations and employment law group at Torkin Manes LLP in Toronto. She can be reached at (416) 643-8810 or [email protected].
ANSWER: Each province has its own occupational health and safety legislation that governs the physical conditions of a workplace.
In Ontario, an employer is obligated under the Occupational Health and Safety Act to take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker. That duty requires employers to ensure the physical conditions of the workplace, including temperature and lighting of the workplace, are safe.
Many Canadian occupational health and safety regulations specify upper and lower temperature limits for work performed inside buildings which are normally heated. In Ontario, an employer is required to keep a workplace at a temperature that is suitable for the type of work performed and not less than 18 C.
However, an employer is permitted to have a workplace temperature less than 18 C if the particular workplace falls within an exception set out in the legislation. For example, in circumstances where perishable goods require lower temperatures or where there is a necessity of opening doors.
Although no maximum temperature is prescribed under the legislation in Ontario, the Ministry of Labour has issued a policy recommending that employers adopt the threshold limit values (TLVs) for heat stress and heat strain published by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists. The TLVs are based on preventing an unacclimatized worker’s core temperature from rising above 38 C.
The level of lighting in a workplace is also an important occupational health and safety issue. In Ontario, an employer is obligated to provide adequate lighting. Where natural lighting is inadequate to ensure the safety of a worker, the legislation creates an obligation for an employer to provide artificial lighting.
Shadows and glare must be reduced to a minimum. Natural lighting is only adequate if it is sufficient to protect a worker from an occupational illness or occupational injury.
If the employer fails to provide a safe work environment, a worker may refuse to work in certain circumstances. Workers must be cognizant of the fact that there is often a fine line between comfort and safety and it is not always easy to determine the difference.
In Ontario, a worker’s right to refuse to work is limited to circumstances where the employee has reason to believe that the physical condition of the workplace is likely to endanger him or herself or others.
However, that right does not permit the worker to simply take the remainder of the day off. Legislation requires that the worker report the dangerous circumstances to the employer who will then commence an investigation. The worker must remain available to the employer while the investigation is conducted.
If the dangerous conditions persist, the worker may continue to refuse to work, however a higher objective standard is imposed on the worker. The worker may refuse to work only if he has “reasonable grounds” to believe that to perform the particular work would continue to endanger him or herself or others.
The worker or employer must then contact a Ministry of Labour inspector who will commence a second investigation. Again, pending that investigation, the worker cannot simply leave for the day. The worker must remain in a safe place that is near as is reasonably possible to his or her work station and be available to the inspector for the purposes of the investigation.
In such circumstances, the employer is permitted to assign the worker reasonable alternative work or provide other directions.
Carolyn Johnston is an associate in the labour relations and employment law group at Torkin Manes LLP in Toronto. She can be reached at (416) 643-8810 or [email protected].
