Bill 125 explained in plain English
Justice for Victims of Occupational Disease Act, 2022
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 42nd Parliament, 2nd Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
Bill 125 changes how Ontario determines whether a health condition is an occupational disease and requires the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board to regularly review international lists of cancer-causing substances.
Bill 125 makes two main changes to Ontario's workplace safety and insurance laws. First, it changes the rules for deciding whether a worker's health condition counts as an occupational disease. Instead of requiring the worker's employment to be the sole, primary, or dominant cause, the new rules say a health condition is an occupational disease if the worker's employment is a "significant contributing factor" in causing it. This is determined by assessing whether it is more likely than not that employment contributed significantly. The bill also says that all of a worker's workplace exposures should be added together and considered as a group, unless there is evidence that they interact in a special way. Additionally, if a disease is more common among workers in a particular workplace than in the general community, this counts as evidence that the disease was caused by the job. Second, the bill requires the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board to review international lists of known and probable cancer-causing substances at least once per year. If a substance is identified internationally as a known carcinogen, it must be added to Ontario's Schedule 3 (a list of occupational diseases) and considered for Schedule 4. If a substance is identified as a probable carcinogen, it must either be added to Schedule 3 or, if the Board decides it cannot be added there, the Board must develop a policy about it after consulting with workers, employers, and their representatives. The bill comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- Amends the definition and determination process for occupational diseases under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997
- Establishes that a health condition is an occupational disease if the worker's employment is a 'significant contributing factor' in its onset, determined on a 'more likely than not' standard
- Removes the requirement that employment be the sole, primary, or predominant cause of an occupational disease
- Requires that all of a worker's workplace exposures be considered together and presumed to be additive unless evidence shows a synergistic effect
- Creates a presumption that if a disease is more common in a specific workplace than in the general community, it was caused by the job
- Clarifies that 'significant contributing factor' means a material contribution that is more than trifling or speculative but does not need to meet a particular quantifiable threshold
- Requires the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board to review lists of known carcinogens (Group 1) and probable carcinogens (Group 2A) published by the International Agency for Research on Cancer at least annually
- Requires the Board to add known carcinogens from the international list to Ontario's Schedule 3 and consider them for Schedule 4
- Requires the Board to either add probable carcinogens from the international list to Schedule 3 or, if unable to do so, develop a policy about them after consulting with workers, employers, and their representatives
- Workers in Ontario who have or develop a health condition they believe is related to their job
- Employers in Ontario whose workers may file claims for occupational disease
- The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), which must implement the new determination rules and review international carcinogen lists
- Workers' representatives and employers' representatives who will be consulted when the Board develops policies about probable carcinogens
- The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board must review lists of known and probable carcinogens published by the International Agency for Research on Cancer at least once per year
- The Board must add substances identified as Group 1 (known) carcinogens to Schedule 3 of the Act and consider them for Schedule 4
- The Board must either add substances identified as Group 2A (probable) carcinogens to Schedule 3 or develop a policy about them after consulting with workers, employers, and their representatives
- A worker's health condition may now be considered an occupational disease if their employment is a significant contributing factor, determined on a 'more likely than not' basis
- All of a worker's workplace exposures must be considered together and presumed to be additive in determining if a disease is occupational
- If a disease is more common in a worker's workplace than in the general community, this is presumed to be evidence that the disease was caused by the job
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent (the specific date is not provided in the bill text)
- The bill text does not specify any costs, fees, or financial impacts
- The bill text does not specify penalties or enforcement mechanisms for violations of these provisions
- The bill text does not specify what happens if the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board disagrees with an International Agency for Research on Cancer classification
- The bill text does not specify a timeline for the Board to add substances to schedules or develop policies, other than that carcinogen lists must be reviewed 'at least annually'
- The bill text does not define what evidence might constitute a 'synergistic effect' that would rebut the presumption that exposures are additive
- The bill text does not specify how the Board will determine whether a substance 'cannot be included' in Schedule 3
- The bill text does not provide details about what consultation with workers, employers, and their representatives would entail
- It is unclear whether the new 'significant contributing factor' standard applies to all occupational diseases or only those related to workplace exposures
Changes how occupational diseases are defined and determined, and adds new duties for the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board to review international carcinogen lists
Source: Section 15 and Section 161
Adds new subsections (2.1) and (2.2) that set out rules for determining occupational disease, including the 'significant contributing factor' test and how to consider workplace exposures
Source: Section 1 of Bill 125
Adds new duties requiring the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board to annually review international carcinogen lists and update Ontario's occupational disease schedules accordingly
Source: Section 2 of Bill 125
The Board must add known carcinogens from the international list to this schedule
Source: Section 2, clause (d)(i) of Bill 125
The Board must consider adding known carcinogens from the international list to this schedule
Source: Section 2, clause (d)(i) of Bill 125
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
Official textProcess Snapshot
Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced