LOCAL RULES

Ontario workplace safety inspection report requirements

Your Ontario workplace safety inspection report has 6 rules to meet. ReportDraft puts every one on your checklist and checks your draft before you sign.

  • The monthly inspection of the workplace
  • Written recommendations get the employer's written answer within 21 days
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Ontario's Occupational Health and Safety Act makes workplace inspections a legal duty: the designated worker member of the joint health and safety committee, or the health and safety representative, inspects the physical condition of the workplace at least once a month, reports hazards to the committee, and the employer answers written recommendations within 21 days. Here is each rule with a link to the official text, and how walk-through notes become an Ontario inspection report.

Last reviewed October 11, 2026 against the official sources listed below.

Workplace safety inspectionONTARIO / SAMPLE

Sample notes, 134 words

Workplace: Northgate Fabrication
1840 Industrial Pkwy
Date: 10/06/2026, 9:30am
Inspected by: Priya Shah (safety committee worker member)
Accompanied by: Tom Reilly, shop supervisor
...
FREE PREVIEW OF THESE NOTES
69%of your draft is ready from these notes

We sorted 12 items into 7 sections and flagged 1 to fix first.

  • Fix soonMachinery, tools and powered equipment

    Guard missing on the bench grinder in maintenance, grinder tagged out

  • Fix soonHazardous products

    Weld shop SDS binder missing the two new cutting fluids

6 Ontario rules on your checklist, including the monthly inspection of the workplace.

Still to add

  • Ontario lawPart of the workplace inspected
  • RecommendedNotes for ladders, heights and material handling
  • RecommendedNotes for first aid, postings and records

Filled in for you

Workplace or business nameNorthgate Fabrication
Workplace address1840 Industrial Pkwy
Areas or departments inspectedweld shop, warehouse, break room
Inspection dateOct 6, 2026
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What Ontario requires

Who inspects, and how often

Where 20 or more workers are regularly employed, a joint health and safety committee is required, and its worker members designate a worker member, a certified member if possible, to inspect the workplace. Where more than five workers are regularly employed and no committee is required, the workers select a health and safety representative, who does the inspections.

The physical condition of the workplace is inspected at least once a month, unless a regulation or an inspector's order sets another schedule. If a monthly inspection of the whole workplace is not practical, the whole workplace is inspected at least once a year with part of it inspected every month, on a schedule set by the committee or agreed by the employer and the representative.

Reporting hazards and making recommendations

The inspecting member informs the committee of situations that may be a source of danger or hazard to workers, and the committee considers them within a reasonable time. The committee, and a representative, can make recommendations to the employer for the improvement of workers' health and safety. The employer and workers must give the inspector the information and assistance the inspection needs.

The employer's 21-day written response

An employer who receives written recommendations from the committee, a co-chair or the representative must respond in writing within 21 days. The response includes a timetable for the recommendations it agrees with and reasons for any it does not accept. A clear inspection report with a recommendation for each hazard makes those written recommendations easy to send and track.

From walk-through notes to an Ontario inspection report

Note the areas you covered, whether this month's inspection was the whole workplace or the scheduled part, each hazard and where it was, and anything fixed on the spot. ReportDraft records who inspected and the coverage in the header, writes each hazard as a situation that may be a source of danger with a recommendation to the employer, lists corrective actions with the person responsible and due date when your notes give them, and carries open items from earlier inspections forward.

Common mistakes

  • Skipping a month, or inspecting only part of the workplace without a schedule that covers all of it within the year.
  • Listing hazards without a recommendation the committee can send to the employer.
  • Letting written recommendations go unanswered past 21 days without following up.
  • Not carrying open items from last month's inspection forward.

Sources

Last reviewed October 11, 2026. Next review due January 11, 2027. This page explains published rules to help you write your report. It is not legal advice; the official text linked above governs.