Safety on Trial: Understanding and Improving Workplace Safety Law in Canada

“A must read for any safety professional! Safety on Trial brings an accurate and clear account of the attitudes and obstacles encountered by employers, supervisors, and workers that prevent the internal responsibility system from truly functioning properly to make a significant impact on safety in the workplace.” – Halyna Pilkiw, BASc, CRSP, Health and Safety Manager, Hardrock Group of Companies

"Norm Keith has turned more than four decades of experience at the front line of health and safety law into a focussed text that should be required reading for every single health and safety stakeholder – particularly legislators. He has prepared an easy-to-understand historical overview of the health and safety systems in place across Canada today, while also developing a clear roadmap for changes in our approach to health and safety, which if adopted, would most certainly improve on the overarching goal of accident and injury prevention.” – Andrew Murray, partner, Lerners LLP

“This new book … is a “must read” for every safety professional, enforcement inspector, Minister of Labour, and business leader that values people and their right to a safe and productive workplace. Norm goes beyond the usual legal precedence and integrates the leading principle that accident prevention and workplace injury reduction is a business and government imperative... His detailed and easy to understand descriptions of the OHS legal framework and current enforcement law ... work together and create the safest workplaces possible by learning from our past and succeeding in the future.” – Peter Sturm, EMBA, BA, CRSP, CHSC, STRUM Consulting Inc.

Safety on Trial: Understanding and Improving Workplace Safety Law in Canada is the most recent text by Norm Keith, Canada’s leading occupational health and safety (OHS) lawyer. It covers the origins of modern Canadian health and safety legislation, the evolution of the internal responsibility system, and regulatory models of workplace safety.

The book addresses the modern approach to the enforcement of health and safety legislation across Canada by regulatory and criminal prosecution. It explores the panoply of legal issues that OHS professionals and their legal advisors must consider and deal with on a regular basis. It also provides legislative and practical suggestions for improving workplace safety for Canadian workers.

Topics Covered

• The origins and legislative framework of Canadian OHS laws
• Workplace safety policy models
• Criminalizing workplace stakeholders, corporations and individuals
• The OHS trial process, from the decision to prosecute, to acquittals, convictions and appeals
• Prosecutions under the Westray Bill
• Leadership in workplace safety
• Recommendations for OHS regulators and employers to improve workplace safety

Who Should Read This Book

• Employment and OHS lawyers – to advise their clients on the latest developments in OHS law
• In-house counsel – to guide to their employers on strategies to comply with their OHS duties and avoid liability under the Criminal Code
• Unions and Union representatives – to understand their members rights under OHS legislation
• Human Resources managers & OHS managers and officers – to formulate a legally-compliant and robust OHS program in the workplace
• Environment, Health & Safety professionals, including Chief Safety officers, Chief Risk/Compliance officers, EHS directors and JHSC committees – to ensure companies comply with OHS legal duties
• OHS professors and students – to help with research on OHS law