2019-2020 Departmental Results Report

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Minister's Message

The Honourable Minister Filomena Tassi

As Minister of Labour, I am pleased to present the 2019-20 Departmental Results Report for the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS).

For more than 40 years, as Canada’s national resource dedicated to advancing workplace health and safety, CCOHS has been a source of credible and unbiased information and quality tools for employers, workers, and stakeholders to help prevent injuries and illness in Canadian workplaces.

This past year the work of CCOHS centred on promoting safe work practices around priority workplace areas of concern that included mental health, impairment, harassment and violence, and occupational diseases. To do this, CCOHS collaborated and partnered with like-minded organizations and agencies across Canada to put occupational health and safety information into the hands of those who need it most.

CCOHS partnered with the Government of Canada on a national multi-faceted social media campaign to promote culture change around workplace harassment and violence. The campaign stressed the importance of developing policies and programs to prevent harassment and violence and educate the workforce on how to respond and report. The campaign was widely shared and potentially reached over six million.

With the onset of a global pandemic in March, our world was forever changed. CCOHS was already ahead of the crisis, updating resources and preparing business continuity guidance on how to plan for a pandemic. A microsite dedicated to providing access to COVID-19 resources was quickly made available and CCOHS, in collaboration with the Government of Canada, produced much needed occupational and sector-specific guidance for Canadians to post to the site.

CCOHS has developed relationships with Indigenous communities to learn about their unique needs and challenges that they may better be served. This year, CCOHS participated in multiple conferences and roundtables to exchange knowledge and share perspectives on mental health, leadership and occupational health and safety.

I look forward, especially during this global COVID-19 pandemic, to continuing our collaboration with CCOHS to offer programs, resources, and tools that Canadian workplaces need to safely navigate these extraordinary challenges and protect the health, safety and well-being of workers in Canada.

The Honourable Filomena Tassi
Minister of Labour

Institutional Head’s Message

Anne Tennier

I am pleased to present the 2019-2020 Departmental Results Report for the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS).

With our five-year strategic plan as our roadmap, we continued our commitment to address current and emerging workplace safety concerns that included mental health, harassment and violence, impairment, occupational disease, and of course, COVID-19.

CCOHS has long recognized the importance of advancing workplace mental health in Canada. In partnership with the Mental Health Commission of Canada, we launched a mental health assessment tool, Caring for the Paramedic Community, to help paramedic organizations identify key areas of strength and concern that influence the psychological health and safety in their workplace. We created new courses to educate workers and materials to promote injury and illness prevention, and forged new relationships in the agricultural sector to address the mental health of farmers.

In addition to our partnership with the Government of Canada on a national multi-faceted social media campaign to help workplaces promote culture change around workplace harassment and violence, CCOHS offered workshops that promoted workplaces to take action on violence prevention policies and programs. Overall, participants appreciated the positive learning environment, and expect to impact more than 3,000 workers across Canada.

And then in January there was news about a deadly coronavirus. CCOHS was ready with the most current information on COVID-19 and business continuity planning. In March when a global pandemic was declared, businesses closed, workers went home to work remotely, and the essential workplaces that continued to serve needed information about COVID-19 and guidance on how to work safely. CCOHS partnered with the Government of Canada and other stakeholders to develop tips sheets for specific higher risk sectors and occupations. We unlocked relevant courses and publications and made them available for free on the CCOHS website and bolstered our Infectious Disease Outbreak web portal to provide central access to hundreds of credible resources from Canada and international agencies. We closed out our year very differently than how we began it, with most of our attention and efforts focused on COVID-19.

CCOHS will continue to focus on its commitment to serving all Canadians with the information, tools, and guidance to making their workplaces both mentally and physically safer, where everyone can thrive.

Anne Tennier, P.Eng., EP
President and Chief Executive Officer

Results at a glance and operating context

Results at a glance

What funds were used?

$11,180,990

Actual Spending

Who was involved?

83.3

Actual FTEs

Results Highlights

  • Outreach: 9.9 million people visited the CCOHS website for health and safety information 13.2 million times. 9.2 million website users made 11.3 million visits to the free online OSH Answers fact sheets, while the mobile app had 11,144 downloads. CCOHS answered 8,327 inquiries received from workers in Canada seeking advice and guidance through Safety InfoLine, a confidential person-to-person inquiry service.
  • Partnerships/Collaborations: Partnered with the Government of Canada on a national social media campaign to promote workplace culture change around harassment and violence which reached more than 6 million; partnered with the Mental Health Commission of Canada to build free online assessment tools to serve healthcare workers and paramedics (Caring for the Paramedic Community website); collaborated with the Canadian Coordinators of Young Worker Safety subcommittee of the Canadian Association of Administrators of Labour Legislation-Occupational Safety and Health Sub-Committee to develop a resource page for jurisdictions to use when promoting young worker safety around cannabis and impairment; collaborated with Government of Canada and Canadian organizations to develop a series of free COVID-19 pandemic tip sheets to offer guidance and good practices for specific higher risk occupations, industries and services.
  • Gender-based analysis plus: CCOHS continued to ensure all imagery used in outreach efforts across social media, products, and other public facing materials were inclusive, reflecting Canada’s diversity; the Gender Work and Health portal was promoted to help policy makers and workplaces integrate gender considerations into their occupational health activities; CCOHS promoted the usage of the CCOHS Gender, Work and Health web portal and there were over 6,000 page views. In order to create safe and healthy workplaces, CCOHS must understand how gender and sex influence work and health, and integrate gender considerations into occupational safety and health activities. The portal provides policy makers and workplaces with the most current and relevant research and tools to do this.

For more information on the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety’s plans, priorities and results achieved, see the “Results: what we achieved” section of this report.

Operating context

CCOHS is governed by a tripartite council representing governments (federal, provincial and territorial), employers, and labour organizations. The Council of Governors (Council) assists in overseeing a policy framework for a trustworthy and complete occupational health and safety service and ensures that the information CCOHS disseminates is unbiased. CCOHS’ Council members are directly involved in the policy, governance and strategic planning for the organization. Council also assists with reviews of programs and services to help ensure that CCOHS’ information is impartial and relevant. Along with federal government support, CCOHS’ inquiries service is supported and partially funded from contributions provided by provincial and territorial governments.

Results: what we achieved

Core responsibility

National Occupational Health and Safety Resource

Description:

The goal of this public service program is to provide free information on occupational health and safety to support Canadians in their efforts to work safely and create healthy and safe workplaces. Citizens are provided information through a free and impartial personalized service via telephone, e-mail, person-to-person, fax or mail. Alternatively, they can independently access a broad range of electronic and print resources developed to support safety and health information needs of Canadians. This may include cost recovery products and services and is supported financially by contributions from various stakeholders.

Through health and safety information development, the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety collects, processes, evaluates, creates and publishes authoritative information resources on occupational health and safety for the benefit of all working Canadians. This information is used for education and training, research, development of policy and best practices, improvement of health and safety programs, achieving compliance, and for personal use. When the product or service provided by the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety is offered to identifiable external recipients with benefits beyond those enjoyed by the general public, the product or service becomes part of the cost-recovery program and a fee is charged.

The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety promotes and facilitates consultation and cooperation among federal, provincial and territorial jurisdictions and participation by labour, management and other stakeholders in the establishment and maintenance of high standards and occupational health and safety initiatives for the Canadian context. The sharing of resources results in the coordinated and mutually beneficial development of unique programs, products and services. Collaborative projects are usually supported with a combination of financial and non-financial contributions to the programs by partners and stakeholders and result in advancement of the health and safety initiatives.

Results:
Gender-based analysis plus

CCOHS recognizes the importance of Gender Based Plus (GBA) and is committed to ensuring diverse groups of workers in Canada benefit from our GBA+ policies and programs. CCOHS leadership along with its tripartite Council of Governors ensure that GBA+ policies and programs are integrated into departmental decision-making processes, by requiring CCOHS to assess the potential implications of products and services produced by CCOHS to support the diverse populations of Canadians.

The Gender, Work, and Health website provides information and resources to help employers understand how the physical differences and psychosocial factors influence the rate of injury and illness among men, women, and non-binary people working identical jobs. This year, more than 15 relevant resources were added and the website served as a landing page for a social marketing campaign CCOHS deployed from January to February on the caregiver-inclusive workplace standard. As a result, the website had a surge in usage of 49% from the previous year. Usage of the resources on the site continues to grow as the resources are developed.

In 2019-20 CCOHS incorporated GBA+ initiatives in the following areas of decision making:

  • Recruitment - through the expansion of CCOHS collaborations with organizations that support more inclusive recruitment efforts, supporting such groups as newcomers to Canada.
  • Company wide values exercise – which was hosted by a third-party organization in an unobstructed small group format that provided employees with both in person and confidential forums to communicate current and new or revised values which further emphasize respect, diversity and inclusion.
  • Facilities – updates to enhance barrier free access for staff and visitors.
  • Training – CCOHS conducted staff workshops to promote diversity and inclusion on such topics as Gender Identity and Pronoun Use.
  • Communications – all products and services posted by CCOHS are written in plain language, are accessible and are inclusive of diverse imagery.
Experimentation

As a micro sized department, CCOHS does not have the capacity or resources to undertake experiments in order to achieve the results of the Centre’s core responsibility.

Program Results

CCOHS’ goals for 2019-20 were to respond to the three strategic priorities by providing products and services that were easily accessible to employees and employers alike; increasing awareness of occupational health and safety issues; and promoting the advancement of workplace health and safety. To achieve these goals CCOHS identified harassment and violence, mental health, occupational disease, and impairment in the workplace as areas of focus.

The CCOHS website is the core vehicle used to deliver all of its products. During 2019-2020, the web topic pages on pandemics and Repetitive Strain Injury Awareness Day (RSI Day) were enhanced with additional tools. New projects and apps developed in partnership with other organizations were also made available through the CCOHS website. The website received over 13.2 million visits, from 9.9 million people, with 32% of site usage originating from within Canada. 84% of survey respondents said they used the information from this site to make changes in their workplace.

"We are a construction company using the information your staff has provided to set up a food processing plant where lift trucks and personnel will be traveling on a daily basis. This will benefit a few of our staff for informational purposes but will benefit approximately 30-40 staff that will be working in this new plant. The information is then very important to pass along to this particular company and another company where we are also in the process of setting up (building) which will be a large manufacturing plant."

Safety InfoLine

Safety InfoLine, CCOHS’ free, confidential, person-to-person information service provides users with direct support. Available to all Canadians, CCOHS’ occupational health and safety specialists responded to 8,327 inquiries spanning across employers (49.5%), labour (33.6%), the general public (15.6%), and governments (1.3%) this past year. Survey results revealed that 84.4% of users were very satisfied with the information they received, and 68% indicated their use of information obtained from CCOHS would lead to current or future workplace changes designed to improve health and safety. The OSH Answers mobile app had 11,144 downloads.

Harassment and Violence

This year, CCOHS shifted our focus on harassment and violence from awareness to action, sharing information on practical ways to prevent and address complaints and unacceptable workplace behaviours.

  • Social Marketing Campaign Partnership with the Government of Canada. CCOHS continued its partnership with the Government of Canada to deploy a national multi-faceted social media campaign to promote culture change around workplace harassment and violence. The campaign, Taking Action Against Violence, Harassment and Mental Health Factors in the Workplace, stressed the importance of developing policies and programs to prevent harassment and violence and educate the workforce on how to respond and report. The three-week campaign ran in June 2019 on CCOHS’ Facebook and Twitter channels, resulting in 6.1 million impressions.
  • Workshop: Harassment and Violence Prevention Starts with Civility and Respect. To help workplaces champion and prioritize a civil and healthy workplace free from harassment and violence, CCOHS offered two practical workshops that walked participants through the development and implementation of a workplace violence prevention policy. Feedback from the participant survey was favourable, as 96% felt the content met or exceeded their expectations and 89% said they could apply what they learned at their workplace. Additionally, 100% of participants found the content to be helpful. Overall, participants appreciated the positive learning environment, and expect to impact more than 3,000 workers across Canada.

"I was very impressed with the completeness of the information provided and with the level of professionalism of the person I was connected with. Thanks!"

Mental Health

CCOHS continued to provide Canadians with reliable and credible information, tools, and resources on mental health in the workplace to affect positive change. In partnership with organizations across Canada, CCOHS produced tools for high risk industries such as health care to help workplaces assess the mental health of their organizations.

  • Psychologically Safe Leader Assessment Tool. CCOHS collaborated with the Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace, to rebuild and enhance the Psychologically Safe Leader Assessment Tool, which allows individuals and organizations to identify and strengthen their psychological health and safety leadership strategies. CCOHS will continue to maintain and provide support for the tool.
  • Mental Health Assessment Tools for Healthcare. CCOHS partnered with the Mental Health Commission of Canada to build two free online mental health assessment tools: Caring for Healthcare Workers (launched in March 2019) and Caring for the Paramedic Community (launched in June 2019), to support mental health promotion in these two vulnerable sectors. The assessment tools help healthcare and paramedic organizations identify key areas of strength and concern that influence the psychological health and safety in their workplaces, as starting points from which to develop mental health programs. CCOHS will continue to maintain and support the websites.
Occupational Disease

This year CCOHS focused on educating Canadians about the hazards and risks of various occupational diseases such as occupational cancers, respiratory illness, and coronaviruses, and how to prevent harmful exposure. When the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was declared on March 11, CCOHS was ready to respond to workplaces seeking guidance with free tools and resources such as the Flu and Infectious Disease Outbreaks microsite, Pandemic planning and Business Continuity Guide, fact sheets, newsletter articles, and sector specific tip sheets.

Impairment in the Workplace

In October 2018, the Canadian government legalized the sale and use of recreational cannabis. To help Canadians address the potential for impairment in the workplace, CCOHS shared prevention messages across all social media platforms and made guidance documents, online courses, infographics, newsletter articles, and podcasts available.

  • Impairment: What Workers Need to Know. CCOHS launched the new e-course, Impairment: What Workers Need to Know, to help workers understand their role in recognizing the signs of impairment in themselves and coworkers, and how to respond according to their organization’s policies and procedures.
  • Canadian Coordinators of Young Worker Safety subcommittee of CAALL-OSH. CCOHS partnered with the Canadian Coordinators of Young Worker Safety subcommittee of CAALL-OSH (Canadian Association of Administrators of Labour Legislation-Occupational Safety and Health Sub-Committee), to develop a resource page for jurisdictions to use when promoting young worker safety around cannabis and impairment. CCOHS houses the page on the Young Workers Zone of the website, and resources include a parent/guardian guide, presentation slides, student assignments, and the infographic Work and Cannabis: They Just DON’T Mix.
  • CSA Z1008 Impairment in the Workplace. CCOHS is supporting the Canadian Standards Association by participating on the technical committee tasked to develop a new standard and implementation guide to assist workplaces in the management of impairment in the workplace. The draft Standard will be available for public review in 2020.

"I am always impressed by the level of detail received in email responses from CCOHS to my questions. I have learned a lot and will use this information to beef up our health and safety procedures. I am developing a flow chart now and I think I will have more questions as I go, but as an answer to my initial questions, 5 stars! Thank you!"

Results achieved
Departmental Results Performance Indicators Target Date to
achieve
target
2017–18
Actual
results
2018–19
Actual
results
2019–20
Actual
results
Canadians can easily access CCOHS’ occupational health and safety information and services. Number of Canadian web sessions promoting occupational health and safety information 3 to 4 million web sessions March 2020 3,531,000 4,200,718 4,986,345
Number of social media impressions promoting occupational health and safety information where CCOHS was referenced as the source 1.5 to 1.9 million impressions March 2020 1,906,795 2,246,613 2,474,648
Percentage of Canadian users of CCOHS’ website who indicated that information was easy to access. 65 to 75 percent March 2020 Not available * 80.3% 85%
Canadians have an increased awareness of occupational health and safety issues in the workplace. Number of national media sightings promoting occupational health and safety information where CCOHS was referenced as the source. 550 to 800 media sightings March 2020 779 877 957
Number of CCOHS podcast listens promoting occupational health and safety information. 70,000 to 80,000 listens March 2020 84,718 62,363 ** 65,883
Percentage of Canadian users of CCOHS’ website who indicated that their awareness of occupational health and safety has increased as a result of the information and/or resources provided. 65 to 75 percent March 2020 Not available * 84.7% 85.8%
Occupational health and safety information is used to improve workplace practices. Percentage of subscribers to CCOHS’ Health and Safety Report who say they use the information to make current or planned changes in their workplace that might improve occupational health and safety. 60 to 72 percent March 2020 76% 71% 66%
Percentage of Safety InfoLine users who say they use the information to make current or planned changes in their workplace that might improve occupational health and safety. 60 to 65 percent March 2020 65% 66% 68%

* A new web survey was introduced in fiscal year 2018-19 to measure this result. Results were tabulated in April 2019.

** Old content was removed, approximately 30% of the total podcast collection, thereby impacting the number of listens.

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)
2019–20
Main Estimates
2019–20
Planned Spending
2019–20
Total authorities
available for use
2019–20
Actual spending
(authorities used)
2019-20
Difference
(Actual spending
minus
Planned
spending)
6,106,928 6,106,928 13,375,180 6,953,799 846,871

Actual spending for the program exceeded planned spending by $846,871 which primarily resulted from increased staffing costs for benefits; as well as increased spending on software and computer equipment to support additional cost recovery revenue projects.

Human resources (full-time equivalents)
2019–20
Planned full-time equivalents
2019–20
Actual full-time equivalents
2019–20
Difference
(Actual full-time equivalents
minus Planned full-time
equivalents)
68 62.3 (5.7)

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety’s Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Internal Services

Description

Internal Services are those groups of related activities and resources that the federal government considers to be services in support of programs and/or required to meet corporate obligations of an organization. Internal Services refers to the activities and resources of the 10 distinct service categories that support Program delivery in the organization, regardless of the Internal Services delivery model in a department. The 10 service categories are: 

  • Acquisition Management Services
  • Communications Services
  • Financial Management Services
  • Human Resources Management Services
  • Information Management Services
  • Information Technology Services
  • Legal Services
  • Materiel Management Services
  • Management and Oversight Services
  • Real Property Management Services

Results

Budgetary financial Resources (dollars)
2019–20
Main Estimates
2019–20
Planned spending
2019–20
Total authorities
available for use
2019–20
Actual spending
(authorities used)
2019–20
Difference
(Actual spending
minus Planned
spending)
2,940,373 2,940,373 3,239,605 4,227,191 1,286,818

CCOHS’ actual spending for Internal Services exceeded planned spending by $1,286,818 primarily as a result of increased salary costs following a reclassification of CCOHS’ information technology staff and both an increase in staffing levels and operating expenditures required to support the increased demand for CCOHS’ internal services to deliver expanded program reach. These unplanned costs were funded by CCOHS’ respendable / reinvestment authorities pursuant to section 6 (1) (g) of the CCOHS Act.

Human resources (full-time equivalents)
2019–20
Planned full-time equivalents
2019–20
Actual full-time equivalents
2019-20
Difference
(Actual full-time equivalents
minus Planned full-time
equivalents)
22 21 (1)

Analysis of trends in spending and human resources

Actual expenditures

Departmental spending trend graph

The following graph presents planned (voted and statutory spending) over time.

Expenditure Profile - Spending Trend Graph

Text version of the Graph

The departmental spending trend graph depicts a decrease in Statutory Employee Benefit Plan (EBP) spending as these costs are expected to be funded from alternate funding sources, effective 2020-21.

The total spending reported in 2017-18 through 2020-21 includes Parliamentary appropriations and revenue sources including main estimates, recoveries and the use of cash respendable revenues pursuant to section 6(1)(g) of the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Fiscal 2021-22 and 2022-23 planned spending authorities represents authorities approved in the 2020-21 Main Estimates and do not represent the use of CCOHS’ respendable revenues.

Budgetary performance summary for Core Responsibilities and Internal Services (dollars)
Core responsibilities
and Internal Services
2019–20
Main Estimates
2019–20
Planned spending
2020–21
Planned spending
2021–22
Planned spending
2019–20
Total authorities available for use
2019–20 Actual spending (authorities used) 2018–19 Actual spending (authorities used) 2017–18 Actual spending (authorities used)
National Occupational Health and Safety Resource 6,106,928 6,106,928 7,129,798 6,126,028 3,375,180 6,953,799 6,653,617 6,849,062
Internal Services 2,940,373 2,940,373 4,187,342 3,597,826 3,239,605 4,227,191 3,906,430 3,307,911
Total 9,047,301 9,047,301 11,317,140 9,723,854 16,614,785 11,180,990 10,560,047 10,156,973

There was a slight increase in actual spending authorities used in fiscal 2019-20 compared with 2017-18 and 2018-19 which was attributable to an increase in staffing levels to support project-based revenues, and additional operating expenditures necessary to support CCOHS’ current level of growth. These costs were funded by CCOHS’ respendable / reinvestment authorities as per section 6(1)(g) of the CCOHS Act.

Actual human resources

Human resources summary for core responsibilities and Internal Services
Core responsibilities
and Internal Services
2017–18
Actual
full-time
equivalents
2018–19
Actual
full-time
equivalents
2019–20
Planned
full-time
equivalents
2019–20
Actual
full-time
equivalents
2020–21
Planned
full-time
equivalents
2021–22
Planned
full-time
equivalents
National Occupational Health and Safety Resource 65 63 68 62.3 71 71
Internal Services 18 18 22 21 24 24
Total 83 81 90 83.3 95 95

Expenditures by vote

For information on the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety’s organizational voted and statutory expenditures, consult the Public Accounts of Canada 2019–2020.

Government of Canada spending and activities

Information on the alignment of the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety’s spending with the Government of Canada’s spending and activities is available in GC InfoBase.

Financial statements and financial statements highlights

Financial statements

The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety’s financial statements (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2020, are available on the departmental website .

Financial statements highlights

Condensed Statement of Operations (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2020 (dollars)
Financial information 2019–20
Planned
results
2019–20
Actual results
2018–19
Actual results
Difference
(2019–20
Actual results
minus
2019–20
Planned
results)
Difference
(2019–20
Actual results
minus
2018–19
Actual results)
Total expenses 11,955,789 12,201,850 11,771,209 246,061 430,641
Total revenues 5,812,807 5,951,904 7,173,056 139,097 (1,221,152)
Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers * 6,142,982 6,249,946 4,598,153 106,964 1,651,793

* Net cost of operations includes the spending of available cash revenues pursuant to section 6(1)(g) of the CCOHS Act.

Fiscal year 2019-20 operating expenses were less than planned due to delays in some planned hires which delayed the completion of some infrastructure investment projects. Operating expenses were higher than prior year due primarily to an increase in the cost of staff benefits and resulting from an increased number of initiatives to enhance technology infrastructures.

Cost recovery revenues in fiscal year 2019-20 were slightly higher than planned, but significantly lower than 2018-19, due to an expected downturn in e-learning course sales which spiked in the prior year in response to legislative compliance requirements.

The gains achieved in the higher than planned cost recovery revenues in fiscal 2019-20 are forwarded for use by CCOHS in subsequent years pursuant to section 6 (1) (g) of the CCOHS Act.

Under the direction of CCOHS’ tripartite Council of Governors CCOHS applies the surplus respendable / reinvestment authorities which are designated to facilitate one-time expenditures, reinvestment in capital equipment or program development in accordance with the CCOHS’ strategic plan. Further details on the planned application of the CCOHS respendable / reinvestment authorities for fiscal year 2020-21 to 2024-25 are reported in Note 14, on page 73, of the annual financial statements contained in the CCOHS Report to Council, 2019-2020

Condensed Statement of Financial Position (unaudited) as of March 31, 2020 (dollars)
Financial Information 2019–20 2018–19 Difference
(2019–20 minus
2018–19)
Total net liabilities 3,824,938 4,304,807 (479,869)
Total net financial assets 2,309,909 2,549,221 (239,312)
Departmental net debt (1,515,029) (1,755,586) 240,557
Total non-financial assets 423,798 354,102 69,696
Departmental net financial position (1,091,231) (1,401,484) 310,253

Total CCOHS liabilities of $3.824 million include: $1.850 million in accounts payable and accrued liabilities payable; $1.012 million in deferred cost recovery revenues from web-based subscriptions and $849 thousand in deferred employee compensation and benefits. The decrease of $480 thousand is primarily related to reductions in the following liabilities: employee severance benefits by $262 thousand; deferred cost recovery revenues by $207 thousand; and the balance is related to a reduction in vacation pay and compensated leave.

Total CCOHS net financial assets of $2.310 million consist of $1.959 million in funds due from the consolidated revenue fund (CRF), which represents amounts that may be disbursed without further charges to the CCOHS authorities.

Total CCOHS non-financial assets of $424 thousand consist of $303 thousand of tangible capital assets.

The increase of $310 thousand in the departmental net financial position, which is the difference between the total non-financial assets and the departmental net debt, is mainly attributable to the decrease in employee severance payable and deferred revenues.

Graphs: CCOHS - Total Cost Recovery Revenues and Parliamentary Authorities, CCOHS Funding from Parliamentary Authorities, CCOHS Cost Recovery Revenues, Fiscal Year 2019-20

Text version of the Graph

Graph for CCOHS Cost of Operations
                      (Excluding non-cash other expenses provided by other government departments)

Text version of the graph

Additional information

Supporting information on planned expenditures, human resources, and results related to the CCOHS’s Program Inventory is available in the GCInfoBase

Organizational profile

  • Appropriate minister[s]: The Honourable Filomena Tassi, Minister of Labour
  • Institutional head: Anne Tennier, P.Eng., President and Chief Executive Officer
  • Ministerial portfolio: Labour Program
  • Enabling instrument[s]: Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Act
  • Year of incorporation / commencement: 1978

Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do

"Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do" is available on the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety's website.

Raison d’être

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) operates under the legislative authority of the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Act (S.C., 1977–78, c. 29) which was passed by unanimous vote in the Canadian Parliament in 1978. CCOHS’ mandate is to promote health and safety in the workplace and to enhance the physical and mental health of workers in Canada. CCOHS functions as an independent departmental corporation under Schedule II of the Financial Administration Act and is accountable to Parliament through the Minister of Labour.

Mandate and role

As Canada's national occupational health and safety resource, CCOHS is dedicated to the advancement of workplace health and safety. We do this by providing information and knowledge transfer services; training and education; cost-effective tools for improving occupational health and safety performance; management systems services supporting health and safety programs; injury and illness prevention initiatives and promoting the total well-being – physical, psychosocial and mental health - of working people.

CCOHS is a recognized leader in providing effective programs, products and services, which are based on the centre's core knowledge, collection of occupational health and safety information, and application of information management technologies.

CCOHS has a broad range of collaborative arrangements with many national and international health and safety organizations. These include the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health and Addiction (CARMHA), the Radiation Safety Institute of Canada, CAREX Canada, World Health Organization (WHO), North American Occupational Safety and Health Week (NAOSH), European Agency for Safety and Health at Work and Health Canada. Further information on the many partnerships is available at www.ccohs.ca/ccohs/partner.html and in our annual report.

Collaborative projects serve many purposes at CCOHS. They are opportunities to enhance our occupational health and safety information resources, collaborate with partners worldwide to access and share global perspectives. This collaboration among nations serves to promote the sharing of information and knowledge for social and economic programs relating to health and safety, reduce injuries and illness, and improve conditions for workers. They also contribute to Canada's leadership role in the world and bring the wealth of global occupational health and safety information for use by CCOHS to improve the health and safety of working people in Canada.

Reporting framework

The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety’s Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory of record for 2019–20 are shown below.

Departmental Results Framework

Core Responsibility: National Occupational Health and Safety Resource

Departmental Results Indicator
Canadians can easily access the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety's occupational health and safety information and services Number of Canadian web sessions promoting occupational health and safety information
Number of Social Media impressions promoting occupational health and safety information where the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety was referenced as the source
Percentage of Canadian users of the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety's website who indicated that information was easy to access
Canadians have increased awareness of occupational health and safety issues in the workplace Number of National media sightings promoting occupational health and safety information where the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety was referenced as the source
Number of Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety podcast listens promoting occupational health and safety information
Percentage of Canadian users of the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety's website who indicated that their awareness of occupational health and safety has increased as a result of the information and/or resources provided
Occupational health and safety information is used to improve workplace practices Percentage of subscribers to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety's Health and Safety Report who say they use the information to make current or planned changes in their workplace that might improve occupational health and safety
Percentage of Safety InfoLine users who say they use the information to make current or planned changes in their workplace that might improve occupational health and safety
Program Inventory Program: Occupational health and safety information and services
Internal Services

Supporting information on the program inventory

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety’s Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Supplementary information tables

The following supplementary information tables are available on Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety’s website.

  • Gender-based analysis plus

Federal tax expenditures

The tax system can be used to achieve public policy objectives through the application of special measures such as low tax rates, exemptions, deductions, deferrals and credits. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for these measures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures. This report also provides detailed background information on tax expenditures, including descriptions, objectives, historical information and references to related federal spending programs. The tax measures presented in this report are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance.

Organizational contact information

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS)

  • 135 Hunter Street East
  • Hamilton ON L8N 1M5
  • Telephone: 905-572-2981
  • 1-800-668-4284 Canada and US
  • Fax: 905-572-2206
  • www.ccohs.ca

Anne Tennier, P.Eng., EP

  • President and Chief Executive Officer
  • Telephone: 905-572-2981, extension 4532
  • Email: anne.tennier@ccohs.ca

Kimberly Pirhonen, CPA, CMA

  • Vice-President Finance and Chief Financial Officer
  • Telephone: 905-572-2981, extension 4402
  • Email: kimberly.pirhonen@ccohs.ca

Appendix: definitions

appropriation (crédit)
Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)
Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.
core responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)
An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a core responsibility are reflected in one or more related departmental results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.
Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)
A report on the plans and expected performance of an appropriated department over a 3 year period. Departmental Plans are usually tabled in Parliament each spring.
departmental priority (priorité)
A plan or project that a department has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired departmental results.
departmental result (résultat ministériel)
A consequence or outcome that a department seeks to achieve. A departmental result is often outside departments’ immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.
departmental result indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)
A quantitative measure of progress on a departmental result.
departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)
A framework that connects the department’s core responsibilities to its departmental results and departmental result indicators
Departmental Results Report (résultat ministériels)
A report on a department’s actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.
experimentation (expérimentation)
The conducting of activities that seek to first explore, then test and compare the effects and impacts of policies and interventions in order to inform evidence-based decision-making, and improve outcomes for Canadians, by learning what works, for whom and in what circumstances. Experimentation is related to, but distinct from innovation (the trying of new things), because it involves a rigorous comparison of results. For example, using a new website to communicate with Canadians can be an innovation; systematically testing the new website against existing outreach tools or an old website to see which one leads to more engagement, is experimentation.
full-time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)
A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person year charge against a departmental budget. For a particular position, the full time equivalent figure is the ratio of number of hours the person actually works divided by the standard number of hours set out in the person’s collective agreement.
gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) ( analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS+])
An analytical process used to assess how diverse groups of women, men and gender-diverse people experience policies, programs and services based on multiple factors including race ethnicity, religion, age, and mental or physical disability.
government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)
For the purpose of the 2019–20 Departmental Results Report, those high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the 2019 Speech from the Throne, namely: Fighting climate change; Strengthening the Middle Class; Walking the road of reconciliation; Keeping Canadians safe and healthy; and Positioning Canada for success in an uncertain world.
horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)
An initiative where two or more federal organizations are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.
non budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)
Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.
performance (rendement)
What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.
performance indicator (indicateur de rendement)
A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an organization, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.
performance reporting (production de rapports sur le rendement)
The process of communicating evidence based performance information. Performance reporting supports decision making, accountability and transparency.
plan (plan)
The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally, a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead to the expected result.
planned spending (dépenses prévues)

For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in Main Estimates.

A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

program (programme)
Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within the department and focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.
program inventory (répertoire des programmes)
Identifies all the department’s programs and describes how resources are organized to contribute to the department’s core responsibilities and results.
result (résultat)
A consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization’s influence.
statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)
Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.
target (cible)
A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.
voted expenditures (dépenses votées)
Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an appropriation act. The vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.