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Bill 125, Justice for Victims of Occupational Disease Act, 2022

Gates, Wayne

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Status

Debates

Acts affected

Original

Bill 125 Original (PDF)

EXPLANATORY

NOTE

The

Bill amends the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 .

Section

15 of the Act is amended to set out certain rules with respect to

determinations about occupational disease.

Section

161 of the Act is amended to require the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board to

review the lists of known carcinogens and probable carcinogens published by the

International Agency for Research on Cancer and to ensure that the regulations respecting

occupational diseases are amended accordingly.

Bill 125 2022

Act to amend the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 in connection with

occupational diseases

Her

Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the

Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:

Section 15 of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997

is amended by adding the following subsections:

Causation,

etc.

(2.1) For

the purposes of this section,

(

a) a

worker’s health condition shall be considered to be an occupational disease if

the worker’s employment constitutes a significant contributing factor in the

onset of the health condition;

(

b) the

determination of whether the worker’s employment constitutes a significant

contributing factor in the onset of the worker’s occupational disease shall be

made by assessing whether it is more likely than not that the employment is a

significant contributing factor;

(

c) it

is not necessary for the worker’s employment to be the sole, primary or

predominant cause of the occupational disease;

(

d) when

making determinations respecting the worker’s entitlement to benefits, evidence

consisting of scientific data or information about the worker’s

employment-related exposures may be considered but shall not be used as a

substitute for those determinations;

(

e) all

of the worker’s exposures shall be considered and shall be presumed to be

additive unless the presumption is rebutted with evidence of a synergistic

effect; and

(

f) evidence

that the rate of a particular occupational disease among persons in the

worker’s workplace is higher than the rate of the disease in the community

shall be presumed to be evidence that the occupational disease occurred due to

the nature of the worker’s employment.

Same,

interpretation

(2.2) In

subsection (2.1),

“significant

contributing factor” means a material contribution that is not required to meet

any particular quantifiable threshold but that is more than trifling or

speculative.

Subsection 161 (3) of the Act is amended by striking out “and” at the end of

clause (

a) and by adding the following clauses:

(

c) to

review, at least annually, the lists of substances in Group 1 (known

carcinogen) and Group 2A (probable carcinogen) published by the International

Agency for Research on Cancer; and

(

d) to

ensure that,

(

i) if

the International Agency for Research on Cancer finds that there is sufficient

evidence for a substance to be classified in Group 1 in respect of certain

organs, the substance is included in

Schedule 3 and is considered for inclusion

in

Schedule 4, and

(ii) if

the International Agency for Research on Cancer finds that there is sufficient

evidence for a substance to be classified in Group 2A in respect of certain

organs,

(

A) the

substance is included in

Schedule 3, or

(

B) if

the Board determines that the substance cannot be included in

Schedule 3, the

Board develops a policy concerning the substance and any associated diseases

after consulting with workers, workers’ representatives, employers and

employers’ representatives.

Commencement

This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.

Short

title

The

short title of this Act is the Justice for Victims of

Occupational Disease Act, 2022 .

Date Bill stage Event Outcome Committee

April 28, 2022

First Reading

Vote

Carried

Debates and Progress

First Reading

April 28, 2022

Committee

Second Reading

Committee

Third Reading

Royal Assent

Acts affected - Bill 125

Most Ontario public acts are available electronically; to view copies of the Acts to be amended by this bill visit e-laws

Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997

Legislative Assembly of Ontario

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