Who needs basic health and safety awareness training in Ontario?

Every worker covered by the Occupational Health and Safety Act must complete a basic awareness program as soon as practicable after starting work, and every supervisor must complete one within one week of supervising (O. Reg. 297/13).

Is the training one-time or annual?

One-time. There is no annual refresher requirement, though the employer must keep records and provide written proof of completion to a worker or supervisor on request for up to six months after they leave.

Can workers skip it if they were trained at a previous employer?

Yes. A worker or supervisor who gives you proof of an equivalent awareness program they already completed, which you verify meets the regulation, is exempt (ss. 1(2) and 2(2)). Keep the proof and your verification on file; Ethica lets you record an exemption instead of re-assigning.

Is the Ministry's certificate the record the law requires?

The certificate is the employee's proof of completion. The employer must also maintain its own record of who completed the training (O. Reg. 297/13, s. 4). Keeping each person's certificate against their name, with the date, covers both, and lets you hand over written proof when someone asks.

Does this replace job-specific safety training?

No. Awareness training is a baseline. Hazard-specific duties — WHMIS, working at heights, and similar — still apply depending on your workplace.

Ontario compliance

Ontario Health and Safety Awareness Training

Assign the Ministry of Labour's official awareness training for workers and supervisors under O. Reg. 297/13, and produce the record on demand.

Start free trial Request a walkthrough

The short answer

Every worker in a provincially regulated Ontario workplace must complete basic health and safety awareness training as soon as practicable after starting, and every supervisor within one week of starting to supervise. It is one-time. You must keep a record of it and give written proof to anyone who asks, up to six months after they leave.

	Workers	Supervisors
Who	Every worker	Anyone who has charge of a workplace or authority over a worker
Deadline	As soon as practicable after starting work	Within one week of starting to supervise
Official program	Worker Health and Safety Awareness in 4 Steps	Supervisor Health and Safety Awareness in 5 Steps
Length	Up to an hour, in one sitting	Up to an hour, in one sitting
Proof the employee gets	Proof of Completion certificate	Proof of Completion certificate
Repeats	No, one-time	No, one-time
Rule	O. Reg. 297/13, s. 1	O. Reg. 297/13, s. 2

Workers

Who: Every worker
Deadline: As soon as practicable after starting work
Official program: Worker Health and Safety Awareness in 4 Steps
Length: Up to an hour, in one sitting
Proof the employee gets: Proof of Completion certificate
Repeats: No, one-time
Rule: O. Reg. 297/13, s. 1

Supervisors

Who: Anyone who has charge of a workplace or authority over a worker
Deadline: Within one week of starting to supervise
Official program: Supervisor Health and Safety Awareness in 5 Steps
Length: Up to an hour, in one sitting
Proof the employee gets: Proof of Completion certificate
Repeats: No, one-time
Rule: O. Reg. 297/13, s. 2

An example of the one-week rule: a lead hand who starts directing other workers on Monday, October 5, 2026 must complete the supervisor program by Monday, October 12. Assign it the day they start; Ethica's supervisor course comes with a seven-day due date. More on new supervisors.

What O. Reg. 297/13 requires

Ontario's Occupational Health and Safety Awareness and Training regulation (O. Reg. 297/13, under the Occupational Health and Safety Act) sets a baseline for every provincially regulated workplace:

Every worker must complete a basic occupational health and safety awareness program as soon as practicable after starting work (s. 1). It's one-time, and workers who give you proof of an equivalent prior program, which you verify, are exempt (s. 1(2)).
Every supervisor must complete a supervisor awareness program within one week of performing work as a supervisor (s. 2).

Employers must keep a record of the training and, on request, provide written proof to a worker or supervisor for up to six months after they leave. The Ministry of Labour publishes official programs that cover the required content: Worker Health and Safety Awareness in 4 Steps and Supervisor Health and Safety Awareness in 5 Steps, as e-learning modules and as printable workbooks.

How Ethica delivers it

The Ministry's two e-learning modules, ready to assign, each with a completion record for every person.

Worker Health & Safety Awareness (4 Steps)

O. Reg. 297/13, s. 1

The Ministry of Labour's official e-learning module for the mandatory basic occupational health and safety awareness training, for every worker in Ontario.

Supervisor Health & Safety Awareness (5 Steps)

O. Reg. 297/13, s. 2

The Ministry of Labour's e-learning module for supervisors, whose training is required within one week of performing work as a supervisor.

Each employee gets an email link to the Ministry's module, which takes up to an hour. At the end it gives them a Proof of Completion certificate, which they upload to Ethica, so you have the record s. 4 requires and a copy to give anyone who asks for written proof. Ethica records who completed it and when, and chases stragglers with automatic reminders. Assign the worker course to everyone, including future hires, and the supervisor course to your supervisors, by hand or with a Supervisor role.

Frequently asked questions

Who needs basic health and safety awareness training in Ontario?: Every worker covered by the Occupational Health and Safety Act must complete a basic awareness program as soon as practicable after starting work, and every supervisor must complete one within one week of supervising (O. Reg. 297/13).
Is the training one-time or annual?: One-time. There is no annual refresher requirement, though the employer must keep records and provide written proof of completion to a worker or supervisor on request for up to six months after they leave.
Can workers skip it if they were trained at a previous employer?: Yes. A worker or supervisor who gives you proof of an equivalent awareness program they already completed, which you verify meets the regulation, is exempt (ss. 1(2) and 2(2)). Keep the proof and your verification on file; Ethica lets you record an exemption instead of re-assigning.
Is the Ministry's certificate the record the law requires?: The certificate is the employee's proof of completion. The employer must also maintain its own record of who completed the training (O. Reg. 297/13, s. 4). Keeping each person's certificate against their name, with the date, covers both, and lets you hand over written proof when someone asks.
Does this replace job-specific safety training?: No. Awareness training is a baseline. Hazard-specific duties — WHMIS, working at heights, and similar — still apply depending on your workplace.

If you were asked to prove it tomorrow

Delivering the training is the first step. The second is being able to show who completed it and when. Some of these rules require that record outright; for the rest it is your best evidence.

Worker health & safety awareness: A training record you must keep, and written proof you must hand a worker on request for up to six months after they leave (O. Reg. 297/13, s. 4)
Supervisor health & safety awareness: A training record showing completion within one week of starting to supervise, and written proof on request for up to six months after they leave (O. Reg. 297/13, s. 4)

Ethica keeps that record for you — every completion timestamped against the employee, exportable to CSV, or as a zip of certificates and signed acknowledgment records, the moment someone asks.

From nothing to an audit-ready record

No course files, no course authoring, no learner accounts. Ethica does the setup; you add your people.

Launch the course

Choose everyone, a role, or the people you pick. Each requirement comes with a due date you can change: 30 days after assignment for Worker Health & Safety Awareness (4 Steps) and 7 days after assignment for Supervisor Health & Safety Awareness (5 Steps), matching the one-week rule.

Add your team

Add employees one by one or import a CSV. Courses you launch for everyone, or for a role, go to future hires automatically, so nobody is missed.

Export the proof

Ask "who is overdue on this?" and get the answer in seconds. Export completions to CSV, or download a zip of certificates and signed acknowledgments.

Have the record before anyone asks for it

Start a free 30-day trial, launch the course, and add your team. That's the whole setup.

Start free trial See how it works

E-learning module published by the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. Ethica is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Government of Ontario.

This page is general information, not legal advice. Confirm your obligations against the current text of the legislation.