WSIB’s Health and Safety Excellence Program

 The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board’s (WSIB) Health and Safety Excellence program provides businesses in Ontario with a clear roadmap to improve their safety, whether they are just getting started or need to improve the systems they have in place. 

How to get started? 

Businesses can start by attending one of our information sessions to learn more about the program and the benefits of joining. Following the information session, you can register with a WSIB approved provider that best meets your needs. 

Your business will complete a short online health and safety assessment that evaluates your current measures and suggests program topics that addresses the unique needs of your business. You can completed these topics over a 12-month period at a pace that works best for you. 

The WSIB will then review and validate your progress and you will then be eligible for financial rebates and other recognition. 

The Health and Safety Excellence program will take your business from awareness to excellence, improve the safety of your workplace and save you money. 

To find out more information or join the program, visit wsib.ca/healthandsafety. 

• The program provides a clear road map for businesses to improve workplace safety, whether they are just getting started or want to optimize systems and processes they already have in place.
• The Health and Safety Excellence program is flexible – it is tailored to individual business needs across different sectors and helps foster a culture health and safety and improve outcomes.
• The program connects businesses of all sizes with WSIB-approved providers that will help you develop health and safety measures that are suitable for your business. To learn more, review our WSIB- approved provider list.
• The Health and Safety program has 36 topics spread across three levels – foundation, intermediate and advanced – to help develop and integrate health and safety into workplaces and take a business from awareness to excellence.
• The Health and Safety Excellence program can also help businesses achieve best practice standard, such as COR2020 or ISO 45001.
• Businesses that are successful in the program will earn rebates and other non-financial recognition for their investment in health and safety.
• The rebate structure for the new health and safety program is based on a business’s ability to impact their rate, in line with our new premium rate-setting model.
  • Businesses with less ability to impact their rates will receive a higher rebate.
  • Businesses with more ability to impact their rates will receive a lower rebate.

Pandemic readiness

• Now more than ever before, workplace health and safety is critical for businesses. Keeping your employees and customers healthy and safe during a pandemic needs to remain a top priority.
• The WSIB’s Health and Safety Excellence program can help get pandemic ready and stay ready.
• The Health and Safety Excellence program will help stop the spread of COVID-19 and help businesses keep their people and our communities safe.
• The following five topics address immediate pandemic related priorities and can help businesses safely resume operations and remain open.
  • Risk assessment – assess COVID-19 related health and safety risks in your workplace, including any new or modified operations or work locations, such as transitioning to work from home offices.
  • Control of hazards – control the spread of COVID-19 through implementation of engineering controls, administrative controls, safe work practices, such as hygiene and sanitation, and personal protective equipment (PPE).
  • Emergency prevention and preparedness – ensure your organization is ready to address challenges resulting from COVID-19 and is pandemic ready.
  • Emergency response – define a work plan to address COVID-19, prevent spread, and resume your business operations safely.
  • Workplace health promotion – empower your staff and support employee mental health through the pandemic and foster a more engaged and resilient workforce.