The requirements below come from Ontario Regulation 213/91 (Construction Projects) under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA), specifically sections 26 through 26.9. These are the rules a Ministry of Labour inspector enforces when they walk your site and see a worker above grade without protection.
Falls are the leading cause of workplace death in Ontario construction. Between 2018 and 2023, the Ministry of Labour reported over 60 construction fatalities from falls in the province, most from heights between 3 and 10 metres. A 3-metre fall generates enough velocity to cause fatal head trauma, spinal cord injuries, or internal organ damage. That is not a guess — it is borne out in every coroner's report and WSIB lost-time injury summary. The 3-metre threshold in O. Reg. 213/91 section 26, paragraph 1 exists because the data says that above that height, the human body cannot survive an unprotected fall reliably. Below 3 metres, injuries still happen — broken ankles, fractured wrists, concussions — but the fatality rate drops sharply. The regulation sets the legal trigger at 3 metres for general construction. For scaffold and platform perimeters, section 26.3(1) requires guardrails at 2.4 metres. For wheelbarrow paths, the trigger drops further to 1.2 metres, because a worker pushing a loaded wheelbarrow near an edge has less ability to recover from a stumble. And for certain hazards — machinery, water, hazardous substances, or openings in a work surface — height is irrelevant. A 1-metre fall into an operating concrete saw or a vat of chemicals is just as lethal as a 10-metre fall to the ground. Section 26 paragraphs 3 through 6 cover these situations: fall protection is required at any height.
Section 26.1 establishes a hierarchy that the Ministry of Labour treats as law, not a suggestion. The first choice is always a guardrail system that meets s.26.3. A guardrail is passive — it does not rely on the worker remembering to clip in, checking a harness, or having current training. It just stands there and stops a person from going over the edge. That is why it ranks first. Only when a guardrail is genuinely not practicable — which means you have a documented reason, not just "it's inconvenient" — can you step down to travel restraint. A travel restraint system prevents the worker from reaching the edge at all. The worker wears a full body harness or safety belt connected to a fixed anchor by a lanyard that is short enough that the worker physically cannot reach the fall hazard. It requires less engineering than a guardrail but more worker compliance. The anchor only needs to resist 2 kN because the system is designed so no fall force ever develops. If travel restraint is not practicable, the next step is a fall restricting system (s.26.5), which limits free fall to 0.6 metres, or a fall arrest system (s.26.6). Fall arrest is the method most workers think of first — the harness, lanyard, and shock absorber. It allows a free fall but stops it before the worker hits anything below. The system must not subject the worker to more than 8 kN of arrest force, and the arrangement must ensure the worker cannot hit the ground or any object below the work surface. This is where clearance calculations matter: harness stretch, shock absorber deployment (typically 1.0 to 1.75 metres), lanyard length, and the worker's height must all be accounted for. Finally, safety nets rank last. They catch the worker after a fall, are engineered by a professional, and are inspected before service per s.26.8. On most residential and light commercial construction sites, you will use guardrails or fall arrest — nets are for bridge work, high-rise steel, and specialized heavy construction.
Since April 2015, Ontario Regulation 297/13 has required every construction worker who may use a fall protection system to complete an approved Working at Heights (WAH) training program before they work at heights. The training must be delivered by a provider approved by the Chief Prevention Officer and covers hazard recognition, the fall protection hierarchy, equipment inspection, proper use of harnesses and lanyards, emergency rescue procedures, and relevant legislation. The certification is valid for three years, after which the worker must retake the course. Employers are required to verify that every worker on their site who may work at heights holds a current WAH certificate, and to keep training records on site. Section 26.2 of O. Reg. 213/91 reinforces this: the employer must ensure the worker is trained, that the training is documented with the worker's name and training dates, and that the records are available to an inspector on request. A Ministry of Labour inspector who finds a worker using a fall arrest system without current WAH training can issue orders against both the worker and the employer. The fine for an individual on summary conviction can reach $100,000; for a corporation, $1,500,000. If a worker dies and the employer failed to ensure training, directors and officers can face personal liability under OHSA section 32. This is not paperwork for the sake of paperwork — it is the legal minimum that stands between an employer and a criminal negligence charge after a fatality.
Section 26.1(4) states: before any use of a fall arrest system or safety net, the worker's employer shall develop written procedures for rescuing the worker after the fall has been arrested. This is the most commonly ignored requirement on Ontario construction sites. Workers clip in, the supervisor checks harnesses, the anchor is rated — and nobody has a written rescue plan. The reason this rule exists is suspension trauma, also called harness-induced pathology. When a worker falls and the harness arrests the fall, the leg straps compress the femoral veins. Within 5 to 20 minutes, blood pooling in the legs causes a drop in venous return to the heart, leading to unconsciousness and, if the worker is not rescued quickly, cardiac arrest. A fall arrest system that works perfectly can still kill the worker if rescue takes too long. The written rescue plan must cover: who initiates the rescue, what equipment is available (self-rescue devices, rescue kits, aerial lifts, ladders), how to lower the suspended worker, who calls 911, and where the nearest hospital is. On small residential sites, the rescue plan can be as simple as two paragraphs and a phone number, but it must exist in writing before anyone clips in. Inspectors ask for it. If you do not have one, expect an order.
Three equipment failures show up repeatedly in Ministry of Labour investigation reports after a fall injury or fatality. First: the expired or damaged harness. Full body harnesses have a service life set by the manufacturer — typically 5 to 10 years from first use, or less if exposed to chemicals, UV, heat, or a previous fall. A harness that arrested a fall must be removed from service immediately per s.26.6(8) and cannot be re-used unless the manufacturer certifies every component. Inspectors look at the label. If the manufacture date plus the rated service life has passed, the harness is non-compliant. Workers who cut the label off (surprisingly common) create an automatic fail. Second: inadequate anchor points. Section 26.7 requires a temporary anchor for a fall arrest system to support at least 8 kN (about 1,800 lbs) static, or 6 kN with a shock absorber. A 2x4 nailed to a roof truss does not come close. Neither does a plumbing vent stack. Engineered anchors, structural steel, or purpose-built roof anchors are the standard. A travel restraint anchor needs only 2 kN, but a worker who clips a travel restraint lanyard to a residential rain gutter is gambling with physics. Third: no pre-use inspection. Sections 26.4(3), 26.5(3), and 26.6(6) all require inspection by a competent worker before each use. "Competent" under OHSA means someone who is qualified because of knowledge, training, and experience, and who is familiar with the Act and applicable regulations. A labourer who has never been trained on harness inspection is not competent to inspect a harness. The inspection must check webbing for cuts, abrasion, chemical damage, and UV degradation; stitching for broken threads; hardware for corrosion, distortion, and proper gate closure; and the shock absorber deployment indicator — if the indicator shows the absorber has been activated, the entire unit is out of service.
A Ministry of Labour inspector who observes a worker exposed to a fall hazard without adequate protection has several enforcement options, and they are not theoretical. The inspector can issue a compliance order requiring immediate correction — the work stops until the hazard is addressed. If the situation poses an immediate danger to a worker, the inspector issues a stop-work order under OHSA section 57, which halts all work on the project or the specific activity until the order is complied with. Every hour of stop-work time costs the constructor money — crew wages, equipment rental, and schedule delay. If the violation is serious enough, the inspector can issue a summons. Under OHSA section 66, fines on summary conviction can reach $100,000 and 12 months imprisonment for an individual, or $1,500,000 for a corporation. Repeat offenders face higher penalties. In 2023, the Ministry of Labour issued over 3,800 orders related to fall protection on Ontario construction projects, making it the single most common category of construction violation. WSIB also tracks fall injuries through its claims system — a fall injury on your site affects your experience rating and premium costs for years. For small contractors, a single lost-time fall claim can increase annual WSIB premiums by thousands of dollars. Beyond the regulatory consequences, OHSA section 32 holds directors and officers personally liable if a corporation fails to comply and a worker is injured or killed. Bill C-45 (the Westray Bill) amended the Criminal Code to establish criminal liability for organizations and their representatives who fail to take reasonable steps to prevent workplace injuries. A construction fatality from an unprotected fall can lead to criminal negligence charges. The investment in proper fall protection — a guardrail system costs a few hundred dollars in lumber and hardware, a quality harness runs $150 to $400, and Working at Heights training is a one-day course — is trivial compared to a single fine, a single WSIB claim, or a single funeral.