Looking to start the year right with an effective occupational health and safety management program?  Why not begin with Worker Health & Safety Centre Certification training?
 
Our Certification training programs help meet employer obligations to establish a workplace health and safety training policy and program, and in the doing, they also help meet mandatory Certification training requirements.
 
Central to our Certification training programs are the knowledge and skills necessary for workplace representatives to participate in the development and implementation of their workplace’s health and safety program, monitor its progress and meet out the many duties of Certified representatives under Ontario health and safety law.

Winter 2020 scheduled training

First up in our Certification training schedule is our comprehensive and recently updated Certification Part I Training, scheduled in communities across Ontario, February 5 to 7.

Next in the process to secure certification status are our Certification Part II programs, designed to address common, significant hazards in specific sectors. These programs are scheduled province-wide beginning in March.

For those workplaces with joint health and safety committee (JHSC) members already certified, you will want to review training records to see if these members require mandatory refresher training to ensure certification status is maintained. WHSC Certification Refresher Training is scheduled in various communities across Ontario on both February 12 and March 6.  
   
With community courses filling fast, be sure to register soon.
 
Many workplaces opt to deliver Workers Health & Safety Centre (WHSC) Certification training in-house and to the entire JHSC. This is especially true of Certification Part II training, where clients and constituents prefer a customized approach addressing hazards specific to a workplace.

Employer obligations

Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act sets out several employer responsibilities intended to ensure worker health and safety, including the duty to “prepare and review at least annually a written occupational health and safety policy and develop and maintain a program to implement that policy.”
 
Most workplaces employing 20 or more workers, or using a designated substance must also establish a JHSC and ensure the Certification of at least two JHSC members, one representing workers and one management. 
 
To become certified, a JHSC member must complete Certification Part I Training and Certification Part II Training (Workplace-Specific Hazard Certification Training). These programs must be approved by the Ministry of Labour’s Chief Prevention Officer, delivered by an approved provider and be completed within six months of each other.
 
Further still is the need to complete approved Certification Refresher Training every three years to maintain certified member status. Those who don’t maintain Certification status are required to retrain in all three parts of Certification training to regain status. 
 
WHSC Certification training programs are all approved by the Ministry of Labour’s Chief Prevention Officer. They are designed to meet the needs of workplaces regardless of size or sector and delivery is available in all regions of the province. 

Additional training obligations

Workers Health and Safety Centre can also assist workplaces meet many additional training obligations ranging from Working at Heights and Supervisor Awareness and Competency to GHS WHMIS and Awareness for Workers. Further still, are hundreds of hazard and issue-specific training opportunities designed to support awareness and prevention efforts.

In addition to the various Certification programs, other training essentials are scheduled in communities province-wide in the coming months.
 
Don’t see training that fits your needs or schedule? 
Be sure to contact WHSC:
 
Call:    1-888-869-7950 and ask to speak to a WHSC Training Services representative
Email: contactus@whsc.on.ca