Canada: New obligations for Employers on Workplace Health and Safety – Worker Psychological Wellbeing
On October 6th 2025, employer obligations under new occupational health and safety rules came into force, primarily relating to the protection of workers from psychological and psychosocial risks at work.
Psychological/Psychosocial Risks at Work
What might count as psychological or psychosocial risks at work:
- An unrealistic workloads or pressures.
- Poor recognition of workers’ efforts.
- Lack of decision-making autonomy.
- Poor support from colleagues or managers.
- Lack of organisational/institutional fairness.
- Harassment (sexual or psychological).
- Violence in the workplace – including domestic.
- Exposure to a potentially traumatic event.
Employers must analyse these factors as a whole rather than individually and be aware of the associated risks they pose. Workers at home must be included in the reviews and in the resulting programs and action plans.
Action by Employers
For businesses with 20 or more workers:
- Develop and implement a prevention programme.
- Set up a health and safety committee.
- Appoint a health and safety representative.
- Maintain a psychological and sexual harassment prevention policy (required since September 27th 2024).
For businesses with 19 or less employees:
- Develop a prevention action plan
- Appoint a health and safety liaison officer from amongst the workers
- Maintain a psychological and sexual harassment prevention policy (required since September 27th 2024).
In most cases, employers have until October 6th 2026, to implement a prevention program or action plan as required. These must then be updated annually.
The Regulation includes significant detail on what the prevention programs or action plans should take into account. HR teams should be aware of and/or trained on the details of the Regulation. Implementation should begin immediately.
This is a high-level general update only. Legal advice should be obtained on specific circumstances.