More than 100 new health and safety inspectors are graduating today.

Minister of Labour and Lambton-Kent-Middlesex MPP Monte McNaughton says they will be visiting workplaces in construction, industrial and health care settings to help with COVID-19 education and enforcement. With the support of provincial offenses officers, the inspectors will be deployed to help educate workers and businesses about the newly-launched vaccine certificate.

“With 100 more inspectors, these boots on the ground across our province will help keep workers safe and support businesses to remain open. Our government’s inspectors will be patient, lead with education, and be reasonable to business owners and frontline workers implementing the vaccine certificate,” says McNaughton in a news release.

Ontario now has a total of 507 labour inspectors, the largest ever number in provincial history.

Over the coming weeks, Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development inspectors and other provincial offenses officers will continue conducting inspection and education campaigns to ensure businesses are following COVID-19 safety requirements.

Since March 2020, provincial inspectors have conducted more than 65,000 COVID-related workplace inspections, issuing 79,200 orders and stopping unsafe work 102 times. 

The province has also unveiled a new Workplace Safety Plan Builder – an online tool to help business complete the requirement of havinga written COVID-19 plan in the workplace.