My daughter's friend, John, approached me last week about an incident that occurred at the camp where he works in a management capacity. A staff person had passed out from the extreme heat associated with a heat wave that had passed over the Toronto region for a few days. The staffer was attended to right away, provided with fluids, the opportunity to rest in an air conditioned office for a while and the only lasting effect seemed to be a mild bit of embarrassment at her inability to cope with the heat. The reason John brought this up to me at all, was that he wondered if it was necessary for him to report the incident to the Ontario Ministry of Labour (MoL).
The short answer is "yes". The Occupational Health and Safety Act clearly states that unconsciousness is a condition of a critical injury; and critical injuries are to be reported to the MoL. However, the Act also says that the injury must "…be of a serious nature…", so one might say that there is a certain amount of ambiguity about the reporting requirement. My best advice, the advice I gave to John, would be - when in doubt, call the MoL. I believe this to a reasonable approach to the reporting requirement. There are other criteria that are similarly vague, such as you must report when there has been a "substantial loss of blood". You and I might think that a puddle of blood on the floor is substantial, but an emergency room nurse would dismiss such an amount as insignificant. By reporting to the Ministry, you have put the onus on them to decide if there is a problem worthy of their attention. You don't even need to divulge your identity until you are ready; the Ministry will, and often does, speak to interested parties in confidence until those parties are ready to identify themselves.
As for John and the case of the fainting staff person? The camp head staff used the case as a teachable moment, reminding staff about the fundamentals of heat stroke controls and the symptoms to watch for. The Ministry was informed about the incident and an investigation was launched by the Ministry, but the investigation only involved a telephone interview and the official concluded that the incident did not warrant any further action on the their part. In fact the official complimented the camp for their awareness of the law (reporting was on time) and their control efforts were pro-active (staff had been previously trained and subsequent re-training efforts were prompt) rather than re-active. The only thing left for the camp executive director to do, to achieve full compliance with the law, was to complete and submit a written report about the incident to the MoL. That report has to be submitted within 48 hours of the incident.
Often employers are fearful of approaching the Ministry of Labour. However it is important to remember that the Ministry, for all its power, fundamentally has the same goals in mind as employers - to make workplaces as safe as possible. In the words of a favourite teacher of mine, Professor Peter Strahlendorf at Ryerson University, "the job of the Ministry of Labour is to encourage compliance; not to throw lightening bolts of moral retribution". http://www.olelearning.com/
