Online Health and Safety Training: Where It Works and Where It Doesn’t
Online health and safety training is widely used by employers to deliver worker orientation, awareness training, and policy reviews. It allows organizations to provide consistent information to workers, track completion, and maintain centralized training records.
However, many employers are unsure whether online health and safety training satisfies requirements under Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA).
The short answer is that online training can be appropriate in many situations. The key question is whether workers are more informed and motivated to work in a healthier and safer manner because of it.
Understanding where online training fits within a company’s health and safety program is important for both due diligence and risk reduction.
Dealing with OHS training compliance gaps at your workplace?
What Ontario law actually requires
Under Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act, employers must protect the health and safety of workers by providing information, instruction, and supervision.
The OHSA generally does not prescribe how training must be delivered. Instead, it focuses on whether workers:
- understand the hazards they may encounter
- know the precautions required to control those hazards
- are able to perform their work safely.
Because of this, the effectiveness and relevance of training are usually more important than the delivery method itself.
When online health and safety training works well
Online health and safety training is most effective when its purpose is to provide awareness and foundational knowledge.
Examples include:
- worker health and safety awareness training
- WHMIS fundamentals, such as hazard classes, pictograms, labels and Safety Data Sheets (SDS)
- company-specific health and safety policy and procedures
- periodic refresher training to reinforce concepts from in-person training
- general hazard awareness such as for fires, working in the heat, slips and falls, and more.
In these situations, online health and safety training can be an efficient way to ensure workers receive consistent information and employers maintain reliable training compliance records.
What this article means by “online training”
In this article, online health and safety training refers to self-paced eLearning, where workers complete training modules electronically at their own pace, rather than being led in real time by an instructor.
This does not include live, instructor-led virtual training.
Where online health and safety training reaches its limits
Online training becomes less appropriate when work involves higher risk activities or where practical skills must be demonstrated in the workplace.
Examples where online training could supplement in-person training includes:
- Respirator use and fit testing
- Confined space entry
- Working at Heights
- Operation of specialized equipment i.e. lift trucks, elevating work platforms, etc.
In these situations, workers must not only understand the concepts, but also be able to apply procedures correctly in real working conditions.
How the appropriateness of health and safety training is typically assessed
When health and safety inspectors review workplace training programs, they rarely focus on the training format alone.
Instead, they typically ask questions such as:
- Was the training relevant to the hazards present in the workplace?
- Was it completed before the worker began performing the work?
- Can the worker demonstrate an understanding of the necessary precautions?
- Was the worker supervised and supported after the training?
Training certificates by themselves carry limited weight if the training content does not relate to the work being performed or if workers cannot demonstrate that they understand the hazards and precautions.
The most common compliance mistake
Many compliance problems arise not because online health and safety training was used, but because it was used in place of something else.
Common issues include:
- relying on generic training alone for workplace-specific hazards
- assuming training alone proves competency
- failing to reinforce training through supervision.
Online health and safety training is a useful tool when it is coupled with instruction and ongoing supervision.
Using online health and safety training effectively
The most effective organizations treat online training as one component of a broader health and safety program.
In practice, this often involves:
- delivering awareness-level health and safety information through online training.
- providing task-specific instruction in the workplace.
- supervising workers to ensure procedures are followed.
- reinforcing expectations through ongoing communication and training.
When used this way, online health and safety training can improve consistency, reduce administrative burden, and help employers maintain defensible training records.
Final note
For many workplaces, the question is not whether online training is allowed, but rather how it can be used appropriately within the context of a health and safety program.
When online health and safety training is used to support awareness and is reinforced through supervision and workplace instruction, it can strengthen a training program rather than replace it.
Health and safety training compliance in Ontario can be complex. Our OHS experts can help you reduce risk and stay ahead of enforcement.
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