The ambulance has just left. Your crew is standing around the machine, rattled. Someone has already picked up a broom.
Stop them.
That broom is the most dangerous thing on your site right now. Not because of what it will do to the floor, but because of what it will do to your legal position. Of all the ways a serious incident becomes a prosecution, cleaning up too early is one of the easiest to avoid.
Let's talk about what Ontario law actually requires when someone is critically injured at work, and the order you need to do it in.
First, is it a "critical injury"?
Not every serious injury is a critical injury under the law. The definition sits in section 1 of O. Reg. 420/21, and it's specific. A critical injury is an injury of a serious nature that:
- places life in jeopardy
- produces unconsciousness
- results in substantial loss of blood
- involves a fracture of a leg or arm (not a finger or toe)
- involves the amputation of a leg, arm, hand or foot (not a finger or toe)
- consists of burns to a major portion of the body, or
- causes the loss of sight in an eye.
Here's what most supervisors almost never realize: you don't need a diagnosis to act. If a worker lost consciousness, even briefly, that meets the definition. If you're unsure whether it's a fracture, treat it as critical until you know otherwise. Nobody has ever been charged for reporting an injury that turned out to be less serious than it looked.
Step one: notify immediately
Section 51(1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act requires the employer, and the constructor on a construction project, to notify these people immediately, by telephone or other direct means:
- an inspector with the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development
- the joint health and safety committee or health and safety representative
- the trade union, if there is one.
"Immediately" means immediately. Not at the end of the shift. Not after you've spoken to the owner. Call the Ministry's Health and Safety Contact Centre (1-877-202-0008) as soon as the injured worker is being cared for.
Step two: protect the scene
Section 51(2) is the part people get wrong. No one may "interfere with, disturb, destroy, alter or carry away any wreckage, article or thing" at the scene until an inspector gives permission.
There are only three exceptions:
- saving life or relieving human suffering
- maintaining an essential public utility service or public transportation system
- preventing unnecessary damage to equipment or other property.
Basically, what this means is simple: you can do whatever it takes to help the injured person. You can shut down a machine to stop it destroying itself. You cannot tidy up, restart production, move the ladder "so nobody else trips on it", or throw away the broken sling.
Tape it off. Assign someone to keep people out. Take photos, but don't touch.
Step three: the written report within 48 hours
Within 48 hours of the occurrence, the employer must send a written report to a Director and to the committee or representative and the union. The required particulars are now set out in one place, section 3 of O. Reg. 420/21, and include what happened, the equipment involved, the names of witnesses, and the steps taken to prevent it happening again. On a construction project the report must also name the constructor, and if a structure, temporary works or a crane failed, it must be followed within 14 days by a professional engineer's written opinion on the cause.
Forty-eight hours goes fast. The report is easier to write accurately when you've preserved the scene, collected witness names on the day, and taken your own photos before anything changed.
What about injuries that aren't critical?
Section 52 covers the rest. If a worker is disabled from their usual work or needs medical attention because of an accident, explosion, fire or incident of workplace violence, but nobody died or was critically injured, the employer must give written notice within four days to the committee or representative and the union. Occupational illness claims have their own four-day notice too.
Those are not the same thing as a WSIB claim. Many employers file with WSIB and assume they're done. They aren't.
Build the plan before you need it
When a critical injury happens, nobody is thinking clearly. That's why the plan has to exist beforehand, written down, on one page.
This week, ask your site supervisor to walk you through what they would do in the first 30 minutes after a critical injury, without looking at anything. Who do they call? Who secures the scene? Where is the Contact Centre number posted?
What they say, and what they do not say, will tell you exactly what to train on next.