In the midst of Canada’s ambitious infrastructure plans, national association pushes for standardized approach to safety training for the Canadian construction industry.
In an effort to bring attention to fragmented safety training across the Canadian construction industry, Canada’s Building Trades Unions (CBTU) recently visited Quebec City to address the country’s labour ministers, impressing upon them the need for a more harmonized approach across provinces and territories. In fact, Sean Strickland, CBTU’s Executive Director, argues that the current setup whereby individual provinces and territories manage their own safety training programs only results in unwanted delays, and lost time and money for everyone involved.
“We all know that in the current economic and geopolitical context, Canada needs to build a more diverse, resilient and efficient economy,” he says. “Governments, private and public sector organizations, and unions: we all bear part of the responsibility for driving this progress forward.”
Safety training review
During his address, Strickland recounted the commitment made by Canada’s labour ministers a year ago in which they agreed to facilitate and prioritize the review of safety training across the country and assess the viability and potential benefits of a harmonized construction safety landscape in Canada by Fall 2026.
A national effort
Strickland emphasized that work toward a harmonized safety training approach in Canada is not limited to a handful of provinces but rather involves insights and input from the entire country. In this way, he says, training will be uniform across the country, beginning with the creation of a foundation by addressing seven priority safety concerns, including ‘Working at Heights’ and ‘Fall Prevention’, and the implementation of best-in-class training standards that will serve as a model across all provinces and territories.
“As a result, worker safety will be improved and training received in one region will automatically be recognized in all other jurisdictions, at the highest standard, improving both safety and productivity.”