OHS Buffet

Can Fire Fighter Applicant Refuse Fitness Test?
September 8th, 2009

FACTS: A firefighter refuses to take a physically demanding fitness test unless the employer monitors his heart rate. The employer claims there

Is Company Responsible for Workers Defiance of Smoking Ban?
September 8th, 2009

FACTS: A Nunavut construction company posts no-smoking signs, removes ashtrays, warns workers not to smoke and takes other measures to ban smoking in its workplace. But a couple of jugheads defy the rules. An OHS inspector smells smoke and charges the company with failing to enforce the ban on indoor smoking.

QUESTION: Who won?

ANSWER: The company. The court ruled that the company had exercised due diligence to ban smoking, citing the measures listed above, and thus wasn

Is Firing a Worker for Reporting an Injury Retaliation?
September 8th, 2009

FACTS: After a worker suffered two workplace injuries, his employer told him not to report the injuries as work-related because of the

Is MOL Inspector Guilty of Assault?
September 8th, 2009

FACTS: During an OHS inspection, an Ontario MOL official loses his cool and shoves the owner of the winery whose facilities are being inspected. The owner sues the inspector for assault. The inspector claims immunity.

QUESTION: Who won?

ANSWER: The court rules that the inspector isn

The Costs of Workplace Absences
September 8th, 2009

Preventing injury isn