Legislation and Enforcement

The Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) is a not-for-profit corporation established by the Province of Ontario to administer the Technical Standards and Safety Act, 2000 (the Act) and its regulations. It is one of several administrative authorities that enforce Ontario’s consumer protection and public safety laws and investigate violations.  

While TSSA acts in the public interest in fulfilling its statutory mandate, TSSA is arm’s length from government and is not a Crown agency.

Legislative Mandate and Authority

TSSA was established to enhance public safety in certain sectors in Ontario by providing for the efficient and flexible administration of technical standards. TSSA regulates amusement devices, boilers and pressure vessels, elevating devices, fuels, operating engineers, and passenger ropeways and conveyors (ski lifts).  

TSSA also has authority to voluntarily provide similar safety services to entities under federal jurisdiction, such as airports and nuclear power plants.  

TSSA’s regulatory activities include rulemaking (primarily by adopting technical codes as law), certification of technicians, licensing of facilities, registration of businesses, auditing and inspection, investigating incidents and enforcement activities, as well as public education and awareness campaigns.  

As part of its regulatory toolkit, TSSA has authority to issue inspector’s orders and director’s orders, impose monetary penalties in the elevating devices sector, prosecute non-compliances in provincial offences courts and to suspend or revoke authorizations.

Regulations

TSSA administers the following regulations:

Code Adoption Documents

The Act sets out TSSA’s overall regulatory framework, while regulations under the Act apply to specific sectors and subject matter.  

A key feature of TSSA’s regulatory model is the ability to make technical codes and standards legally enforceable rules in Ontario. This is done with “Code Adoption Documents” (CADs) that adopt relevant codes and standards as part of the regulations governing that subject matter. CADs can also make Ontario-specific amendments to codes and standards.

The code adoption process supports the flexible and responsive regulation of industry in Ontario. TSSA has adopted a rule-making framework to ensure that new codes are adopted in timely manner and that regulatory requirements are evidence-based.

Note that many of the codes adopted by TSSA are only available for purchase through the standards development organizations (SDOs) who publish them, such as CSA Group and Underwriters’ Laboratories Inc. 

The Operating Engineers Regulation does not have a CAD or any adopted codes. However, the government has approved “Alternate Rules” for the Operating Engineers Regulation. These Alternate Rules provide an optional, flexible, risk-based alternative to the regulation for certain requirements including relating to plant staffing, certification time requirements and electronic logbooks.  

Click here to find the Operating Engineers Alternate Rules. 

Director’s Orders

The Act authorizes statutory directors to issue industry-wide safety orders that are legally binding, such as in response to product recalls or emerging safety risks. 

Guidance

TSSA issues various guidance documents, such as advisories and guidelines, to help regulated industries comply with regulatory requirements and keep Ontarians safe. These are often used to assist in interpreting regulatory requirements, disseminating important safety information and providing technical updates for specific types of equipment.  

Industry specific legislative and regulatory information can be found on the Regulated Industry Dashboards.