Administrative Penalties

Regulation

Background

• On January 15, 2010 the Administrative Penalties Regulations came into effect.

• Intended as another tool to promote OHS compliance in all industry sectors.

Who & How Much?

• All workplace parties would be subject to a penalty when a contravention has occurred and identified by an officer.

• Penalty levels are associated with the role in the workplace - Employers are subject to higher penalties than employees and supervisors

PenaltiesParty Base

Penalty

Potential

Penalty

Range

Employee $100 $0 - $1000

Supervisor, owner or self-employed person $250 $0 - $2000

Employer, contractor, constructor, supplier,

provider of occupational health or safety

service, architect or professional engineer

$500 $0 - $4000

“Supervisor” means a person who has charge of a workplace or authority over a

worker.

Penalty Doubled for Previous Contravention

Section 7:

“The administrative penalty in Sections 5 and 6 is doubled for a contravention if either of the following has occurred during the 3 years immediately before the contravention:

(a) The person on whom the administrative penalty is to be imposed has had an administrative penalty imposed on them for a previous contravention of the Act or regulations;

(b) The person on whom the administrative penalty is to be imposed has been convicted of an offence under Section 74 of the Act.”

Note: The 3 years is NOT retroactive.

Failure to Pay an Administrative Penalty

• Unpaid penalties become a debt to the province

• SNSMR will initiate collection procedures. Options include:

• garnish wages• inability to register a motor vehicle, or renew a

driver’s license, or renew a business license, etc.

• income tax refund withheld

Safety – Is it “Common Sense”?

You decide…..

3 ladders tied together

Why is it that so many people believe this is acceptable?

The Regulator

OHS Division

Role of the OHS Division

• …administer and enforce OHS legislation throughout provincially-regulated industry sectors.

• Achieved through inspections and investigations.

• Enforcement tools include:

– Compliance Orders

– Administrative Penalties

– Prosecution

Where do we spend our time?

Distribution of Divisional Activities by Industry (%)

• Industry 2009/10 2008/09 2007/08 2006/07 2005/06

• Accommodation, Food, and Beverage 4.2 5.7 2.8 5.4 3.8

• Agricultural and Related Services 0.2 0.3 1.2 1.9 2.5

• Business Services 0.8 1.5 1.4 3.0 2.6

• Communications 2.0 1.8 2.8 0.9 1.2

• Construction 35.9 34.2 33.3 30.1 33.4

• Education Services 0.4 0.0 0.4 0.6 0.7

• Finance and Insurance 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.4 0.2

• Fishing and Trapping 0.3 0.2 0.3 1.2 1.4

• Government Services 3.2 4.8 3.2 6.3 6.4

• Health and Social Services 11.4 6.6 4.8 5.6 3.5

• Logging and Forestry 0.6 0.4 0.8 1.2 0.8

• Manufacturing 14.8 17.0 13.0 16.1 15.6

• Mining, Quarrying, and Oil 3.7 4.8 4.4 2.7 3.4

• Other Services 3.1 3.1 3.9 3.8 5.2

• Real Estate / Insurance 1.2 1.3 1.4 0.7 0.7

• Retail Trade 10.8 12.1 19.0 13.3 11.4

• Transportation and Storage Industries 1.6 1.1 1.9 1.7 2.3

• Wholesale Trade 5.6 5.1 5.3 4.9 4.8

Distribution of Complaints by Industry (%)• Industry 2009/10 2008/09 2007/08 2006/07 2005/06

• Accommodation, Food, and Beverage 4.9 8.6 0.0 3.5 3.6

• Agricultural and Related Services 0.0 0.4 0.7 1.5 2.0

• Business Services 2.0 2.5 3.2 4.9 3.6

• Communications 2.5 2.5 3.2 0.9 1.0

• Construction 38.7 36.7 39.6 37.2 37.0

• Education Services 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.8 0.7

• Finance and Insurance 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.7 0.5

• Fishing and Trapping 0.0 1.6 0.7 0.7 1.7

• Government Services 3.4 3.3 7.2 7.9 8.1

• Health and Social Services 8.8 2.9 4.7 4.2 3.7

• Logging and Forestry 1.5 0.8 1.1 1.0 0.9

• Manufacturing 12.3 18.4 18.9 14.4 14.5

• Mining, Quarrying, and Oil 0.5 2.5 1.8 1.9 2.1

• Other Services 4.4 4.5 0.0 5.6 5.3

• Real Estate / Insurance 2.9 0.8 1.6 1.5 1.5

• Retail Trade 8.8 8.6 8.1 6.4 7.9

• Transportation and Storage Industries 3.4 1.6 2.0 1.8 2.5

• Wholesale Trade 5.4 4.5 7.0 4.5 3.6

Distribution of Orders by Industry (%)

Industry 2009/10 2008/09 2007/08

Accommodation, Food & Beverage 6.9 0.6 4.6

Agricultural & Related Services 0.7 1.3 0.5

Business Services 0.5 1.7 0.6

Communications 1.6 2.0 3.7

Construction 22.9 27.1 31.4Education Services 0.1 0.0 0.0

Finance & Insurance 0.0 0.0 0.0

Fishing & Trapping 0.1 0.3 0.0

Government Services 2.1 2.9 3.2

Health & Social Services 5.9 1.2 2.9

Logging & Forestry 0.0 1.2 0.5

Manufacturing 15.6 17.8 12.3

Mining, Quarrying & Oil 4.5 5.9 1.0

Other Services 4.0 3.6 4.8

Real Estate / Insurance 0.9 0.5 1.1

Transportation & Storage Industries 1.1 0.2 1.3

Wholesale Trade 6.8 10.2 8.1

No. of FPSR Violations Orders

442

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Admin Penalty Statistics

Current Statistics – Orders v. PenaltiesJan. 2010 – Jan. 2011 (All Sectors)

• # of Orders Reviewed / Subject to a Penalty

– 3840

• # of Admin Penalties Issued

– 1025

• % of Orders that Resulted in Penalties

– 27%

Class of Persons Receiving Penalties

• Employee Class– 26 (2.5%)

• Supervisor / Self-employed Class– 26 (2.5%)

• Employer Class– 973 (95%)

– Total: 1025 (as of Jan. 24, 2011)

• Vast majority of Orders are being issued to Employers.

Commercial v. Residential Construction

• # Penalties issued to Construction Industry – 336

• Represents 33% of all penalties issued to date

• July 2010 – Tracked penalties issued to Commercial v. Residential Construction Sectors. Results…

• 106 total penalties issued to date

• 66 (62%) issued to commercial sector ($53,383.33)

• 40 (38%) issues to residential ($32,410.00)

Penalties Amount Issued to Date

• Employee Class - $4370.00

• Supervisor / Self-employed Class - $10,000.00

• Employer Class - $600,483.22

Total = $614,853.22

Appeals

• Number of Appeals 173

• Number of AP Appealed 304

Total Appeals: 477

• Total Decisions: 53

• % Confirmed - 41.5 %

• % Decreased - 33.9 %

• % Revoked - 5.6 %

• % Dismissed - 18.8 %

Failure to comply with Fall

Protection & Scaffolding Regs.

- Lack of (adequate) Fall Protection

- Lack of Fall Arrest

- Fall Arrest not properly worn

- Fall Arrest not secured

- Improperly erected scaffolding

- Fail to tie-in scaffold

- Bridging of scaffold sections

- Lack of training

- Lack of adequate supervision

Compliance Remains a Problem

• The owner of a Toronto construction company and two others charged in a deadly scaffolding collapse in Toronto last Christmas Eve.

• The three men and Metron Construction Corp. each face four counts of criminal negligence causing death and one count of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.

• The maximum penalty for criminal negligence causing death is life in prison.

• "I think it's also going to be a wake-up call for supervisors and persons who are directing work and details”, says lead investigator

• “…if a worker is killed in your workplace as a result of negligence on behalf of the employer you will find yourself in the courts and possibly facing a jail term.''

Criminal charges laid in Toronto scaffolding collapse that killed four workers

Impact of Administrative Penalties Regulations

• Education and Awareness– OHS Division was advised by training service providers that

requests for OHS training grew so much when this regulations was introduced, that larger training facilities had to be sought.

– OHS Officers have reported a greater client awareness of the Admin Penalties as learned through inspection processes.

Now What?

• Regulation under final stage of internal review

• Likely that changes will be made based on…

• stakeholder feedback

• internal review

For more information on the Administrative

Penalties, please contact us at:

E-mail:

administrator-ohs@gov.ns.ca

Website:

http://www.gov.ns.ca/lwd/healthandsafety/