Ontario will launch a heightened enforcement focus related to hazards in shipping and receiving areas, including loading docks, as part of an ongoing campaign to increase safety in workplaces, according to a statement from the Ministry of Labour.

Forklifts and other lifting devices are the focus of this month’s safety inspection blitz by the Ontario Ministry of Labour, labour minister Peter Fonseca announced Tuesday.

The Ontario Ministry of Labour will conduct an enforcement blitz at mining operations throughout the province in September to “check for hazards involving live electrical equipment,” in order to reduce workplace injuries.

The blitz is part of the Safe at Work Ontario campaign, which was launched last summer, and will see inspectors checking for electrical hazards that can result in death or injury, and inspecting electrical equipment and practices at underground mines, aggregate operations and surface plants.  

Ontario organizations operating forklifts and other lifting devices should expect to see more inspections from the Ministry of Labour this month, according to a statement from Labour Minister Peter Fonseca.

The Ontario government has announced a 20 per cent reduction in workplace injury rate over the last four years.

This good news was followed by the launch of a new four-year plan dubbed, Safe at Work Ontario, which outlines a new strategy for conducting workplace safety inspections based on the following criteria: injury rates and associate costs; a company’s compliance history; and the presence of young workers.

Ontario has launched a new four-year plan, called Safe at Work Ontario, which builds on the province’s success in reducing workplace injury rate by 20 per cent, according to a recent press release from the Ontario Ministry of Labour.

Inspectors are now "blitzing" Ontario's workplaces to help eliminate specific hazards to health and safety, targeting workplace with employees aged 24 and under as well as those new to their jobs, according to a statement from the Ministry of Labour.