Toronto, ON, September 28, 2022 – Public safety in Ontario continues to improve when compared to 10-year averages across all industries regulated by the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA), as reported in TSSA’s 2022 Annual Public Safety Report published today. The report was released during TSSA’s Annual Public Meeting along with the organization’s 2022 Annual Report.
“While there have been slight increases in incidents and injuries over the past year, these are still below 10-year averages,” said Viola Dessanti, Director, Strategic Analytics, TSSA. “After a very unusual previous reporting year, when there were so many lockdowns and closures due to the pandemic, we expected to see some increases in incidents as activities began to resume to pre-pandemic levels.”
State of Safety Snapshot
As Ontario’s public safety regulator, TSSA administers technical safety regulations for amusement devices, boilers and pressure vessels, elevating devices, fuels, operating engineers, and ski lifts to enhance public safety in the province. TSSA’s Public Safety Report presents the safety data it collects including the number of incidents and injuries reported, as well as the severity of injuries.
In this reporting period (May 1, 2021, to April 30, 2022, TSSA’s 2022 fiscal year, which will be referred to as 2022 hereinafter), there were five per cent more incidents reported to TSSA compared to the 2021 reporting year. However, the number of incidents that occurred in 2022 is 16 per cent lower than the 10-year average.
Similarly, while injuries more than doubled across all TSSA safety program areas in 2022 compared 2021, the number of injuries was 22 per cent lower versus the 10-year average.
Safety Programs Deliver Promising Results
As an Outcome-Based Regulator, TSSA uses data to understand risk, shape the oversight framework and develop procedures and programs to better target risks and support compliance from regulated parties.
In May 2021, TSSA implemented a lapsed authorizations reinstatement program to ensure that regulated entities renew their authorizations in a timely manner and are not operating without valid licensing. Active authorizations are essential for TSSA to effectively monitor the activities of the businesses, facilities and devices operating in the province and collect data required to validate knowledge, competency and qualifications. Since the launch of the program, 94 per cent of authorizations that had lapsed in fiscal year 2022 were resolved through either renewals or shutdowns.
“Actively following up on authorizations that don’t renew is improving TSSA’s ability to track and follow up with those operating illegally, further protecting the wellbeing of the Ontario public,” said Bonnie Rose, President and CEO, TSSA.
TSSA launched its first major Outcome-Based Regulator initiative, the Compliance Support Program, in 2019. As part of this support-focused program, TSSA uses data to identify regulated stakeholders with high-risk operations and devices and offers them the opportunity to work directly with TSSA to address their specific non-compliances. Since the launch of the program to the end of this reporting period, 160 regulated stakeholders with operations and devices deemed high risk have received free education and engagement to address their specific safety issues. Of those stakeholders, 87 per cent have seen improvements in their risk scores overall.
“The early results of these safety programs are very promising,” said Rose. “We will continue to monitor data and analyze trends to better understand how we can continue to leverage evidence to achieve our goal of a safer Ontario and reduce the potential for public harm.”
For a full picture of the state of public safety in Ontario, access TSSA’s 2022 Public Safety Report at www.tssa.org. The report includes case studies depicting some of the harmful incidents that occurred in Ontario in the past year, as well as actions taken and lessons learned.
About TSSA
Throughout Ontario, the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) administers provincial safety regulations and enhances public safety. TSSA regulates the safety of amusement devices, boilers and pressure vessels, elevating devices, fuels, operating engineers, and ski lifts. Its range of safety services include public education authorization, engineering design review, inspections, investigations, compliance support, enforcement, and prosecution activities.
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For more information, please contact:
Alexandra Campbell
Vice President, Communications and Stakeholder Relations
Technical Standards and Safety Authority
Telephone: 416-734-6227
Email: media@tssa.org
