Safe Work Toolkit for Newcomers (Ontario)

Published: December 2019

The Safe Work Toolkit for Newcomers is designed to help settlement agencies and others teach newcomers about their occupational health and safety (OHS) and workers’ compensation rights and responsibilities in Ontario. It updates its predecessor—a toolkit called Prevention is the Best Medicine, which was published by the Institute for Work & Health in 2011.

This updated toolkit, published in 2019, contains everything needed to deliver instructional sessions on two separate, but related, topics in an Ontario context: health and safety at work, and work injury and illness. The toolkit contains sample lesson plans and slide presentations for trainers/workshop leaders, and handouts for participating newcomers.

Who should use the toolkit

The Safe Work Toolkit for Newcomers is designed for settlement services staff and other trainers in Ontario who are already working with newcomers. The intended students are newcomers enrolled in either an English-language class (CLB 4 or above) or an employment-preparation program.

The toolkit can also be used by employers, employer groups, unions, health and safety associations and more to teach recent immigrants who are already in the workforce.

Designed for a classroom setting, the toolkit consists of modular pieces that instructors can adapt to their classroom needs. 

The toolkit includes seven parts in three sections:

  1. General
    • How to use this toolkit
  2. Health and safety at work
    • Fact sheet/handout for learners 
    • Guide for trainers/workshop leaders
    • Slide show presentation for trainers/workshop leaders (with notes) 
  3. Work injury and illness
    • Fact sheet/handout for learners
    • Guide for trainers/workshop leaders
    • Slide show presentation for trainers/workshop leaders (with notes)

Users can download the full toolkit from this site (.zip file). The handouts for learners are also available to download separately.