The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) has launched an online portal aimed at helping small and medium-sized businesses across Canada meet their health and safety responsibilities.
The Business Safety Portal offers owners and employers guidance specific to their industry and location, providing templates and checklists to identify workplace hazards, assess risks and develop policies to protect workers.
“With the unique challenges that small and medium-sized businesses face, meeting health and safety obligations can be daunting,” said Anne Tennier, president and chief executive officer of CCOHS. “We created the Business Safety Portal to provide these employers with information and tools to help them understand and meet their health and safety responsibilities and protect their employees.”
The portal includes online courses, practical manuals, fact sheets and a digital file cabinet to store and share important documentation such as health and safety plans, training certificates and inspection records.
“Small to medium-sized businesses represent one of the largest employer groups in the country, and many do not have the tools they need to keep their workers safe,” Tennier said. “We wanted to address their specific needs with the Business Safety Portal to make it easier for them to build a safe and healthy workplace culture.”
According to the report “Key Small Business Statistics, 2023,” about 99.7 per cent of all businesses in Canada are small to medium-sized, employing about 7.8 million workers—almost twice the number employed by large businesses.
Annual subscriptions to the portal start from $100. While particularly helpful for small to medium-sized businesses, the portal can benefit any organization committed to providing a healthy and safe workplace.
Effective health and safety programs can help reduce workplace injuries and illnesses and improve worker morale, satisfaction, retention, recruitment and productivity.
The portal can be accessed at https://www.ccohs.ca/products/business-portal
