Eight per cent of employers report cannabis-related incident in past year

But 22 per cent for larger employers: survey

Eight per cent of employers report cannabis-related incident in past year
Nearly six in 10 business owners rank their provincial government’s efforts to educate them about cannabis legalization as poor or very poor, found a survey. Shutterstock

Employers are still facing challenges related to cannabis in the workplace a year into legalization, according to a new survey by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).

 

While only eight per cent of surveyed businesses had experienced a cannabis-related incident in the workplace since Oct. 17, 2018, that number rises to 22 per cent for businesses with 100 to 499 employees, found CFIB.

The hospitality and manufacturing sectors were most likely to report an incident (16 per cent).

 

Information lacking

And nearly six in 10 business owners rank their provincial government’s efforts to educate them about cannabis legalization as poor (33 per cent) or very poor (27 per cent), found the survey of 5,710 employers, while 17 per cent ranked it as good.

“Cannabis legalization posed some major new challenges for employers, especially in industries where the safety of employees or customers is a concern. We warned governments in the lead-up to legalization that their education efforts were severely lacking. A year in, and as new products become available, it doesn’t look like it’s gotten much better,” says CFIB president Dan Kelly.

“Provincial governments still have not done a great job of informing employers of their responsibilities, relevant rules and regulations, as well as the resources available to them.”