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VULNERABLE476
as are the regulatory ramifications of indirect OHS issues that arise
because of home-based work.8 Aside from a small percentage of fed-
erally regulated industries, laws governing the prevention of occu-
pational injuries and disease and workers’ compensation fall under
provincial jurisdiction9; here we focus primarily on Ontario and
Quebec.
What Are the Relevant Regulatory Issues Relating to OHS
in a Pandemic?
Protection of workers’ health is governed by OHS legislation, while
access to compensation for disability arising out of and in the course
of employment is governed by workers’ compensation. The federal
government temporarily provides the Canada Emergency Response
Benefit10 which, as we shall see, is of relevance to the understanding of
workers’ options to protect their own health and that of their families
during the pandemic.
OHS legislation throughout Canada provides that employers
have a general duty to protect workers’ health11 and workers have
the duty to protect their own health and that of others in the work-
place (OHSQ, s. 49; OHSO, s. 28). The key foundation of Quebec
legislation (OHSQ, s. 2) is the elimination of the hazard at source;
workers have the right to information and training and the right to
refuse hazardous work, and the employer is obliged to provide per-
sonal protective equipment (PPE) in the event that hazards cannot be
eliminated at source. In Ontario, three basic health and safety rights
include the right to know, the right to participate, and the right to
refuse unsafe work.
Based on dozens of pages of information summarized in a Superior
Court injunction,12 a decision of the Ontario Labour Relations Board
8. Sylvie Montreuil & Katherine Lippel, “Telework and Occupational Health:
Overview and Reflections Based on Empirical Research Conducted in Québec”
(2003) 41 Safety Science 331.
9. Katherine Lippel, “The Future of Workplace Health and Safety Law in the
Context of Globalisation” (2016) 47:2 Ottawa L Rev 535.
10. “Canada Emergency Response Benefit” (last visited 8 May 2020), online:
Government of Canada <https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/cerb-appli-
cation.html> [Government of Canada].
11. In Ontario, Occupational Health and Safety Act, RSO 1990, c O-1, [OHSO] s 25; in
Quebec, AnÂ
ActÂ
RespectingÂ
OccupationalÂ
HealthÂ
andÂ
Safety, RSQ c S-2.1, [OHSQ] s 51.
12. Re Ontario Nurses’ Association et al and Eatonville Care Centre Facility Inc et al,
2020 ONSC 2647 [Eatonville].
VULNERABLE
The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Title
- VULNERABLE
- Subtitle
- The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Authors
- Vanessa MacDonnell
- Jane Philpott
- Sophie Thériault
- Sridhar Venkatapuram
- Publisher
- Ottawa Press
- Date
- 2020
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 9780776636429
- Size
- 15.2 x 22.8 cm
- Pages
- 648
- Categories
- Coronavirus
- International