New funding announced for worker safety in mining and forestry

In what was described as a strategic, provincewide collaboration, the WSIB has partnered with Workplace Safety North (WSN) and the Institute for Work and Health (IWH) to lead a proactive campaign aimed at enhancing hygiene monitoring practices and reducing exposure to harmful workplace hazards. The initiative, spearheaded by WSN, is to focus on high-risk sectors such as mining and forestry, where workers continue to face some of the highest rates of occupational illness fatalities in Ontario. WSN has developed a suite of specialized training materials and will work directly with employers and workers through hands-on coaching and real-time use of hygiene monitoring equipment. The IWH will support the initiative by applying its expertise in health and safety research to assess the effectiveness of the training programs and their impact on improving worker safety.