Toronto, Ontario, Sept. 22, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In its 2023 Annual Public Safety Report, the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) reported a significant reduction in permanent injuries within its regulated sectors for the 2023 fiscal year. The report, released during TSSA’s Annual Public Meeting alongside its 2023 Annual Report, revealed a consistently stable safety environment in Ontario.
“Our data shows the state of safety in the province seems to be improving,” said Viola Dessanti, Director of Strategic Analytics, TSSA. “While the results of the previous two years were impacted by COVID-related closures, this year’s number of permanent injuries shows a significant decrease, when compared to the five-year pre-pandemic average. We hope this is a continuing trend.”
State of Safety Snapshot
As Ontario’s public safety regulator, TSSA enforces technical safety regulations that govern the amusement devices, boilers, pressure vessels, elevating devices, fuels, operating engineers, and ski lifts sectors. TSSA's Public Safety Report presents complete and comprehensive metrics and results that inform its regulatory approach to enhancing public safety in the province.
During the reporting period (May 1, 2022, to April 30, 2023, TSSA’s 2023 fiscal year, which will be referred to as 2023 hereinafter), permanent injuries dropped by more than 30 per cent compared to the 10-year average.
TSSA categorizes potential issues found during inspections as either high-risk orders or safety tasks. Over the past five years (2019-2023), 90 per cent of periodic inspections found no high-risk issues, while 27.5 per cent of periodic inspections found no issues at all.
Enhancing Safety as an Outcome-Based Regulator
“TSSA has launched a number of outcome-based regulatory initiatives over the past three years that have improved safety in the province,” said Bonnie Rose, President and CEO, TSSA. “Compliance Standards are one of these efforts, which we have now expanded to cover more devices and integrated within our IT business solution. Doing so equips us with additional data insights to strengthen our regulatory oversight.”
TSSA introduced new Compliance Standards for passenger elevators (hydraulic and traction), ski lifts, and escalators in 2023. The compliance standards are designed to direct owners, contractors, mechanics and inspectors of these devices towards non-compliances that are highly correlated with risk and demand immediate mitigation by the regulated parties.
An active authorization such as a device licence or contractor registration is necessary for TSSA to have oversight of the technical operations it regulates. With the Enhanced Authorization program launched in 2021, TSSA has been actively following up on authorizations that haven’t been renewed, so that TSSA can track and follow up with those operating illegally. TSSA has resolved 93 per cent of lapsed authorizations in its initial two years. In 2023, TSSA launched a new initiative to address authorizations that had expired between April 2016 and April 2021, resolving 819 out of the 3,500 that had failed to renew, surpassing the first-year target. This initiative will continue into the next fiscal year.
TSSA’s Compliance Support program continues to assist owners, operators and contractors with high-risk devices and operations by working directly with TSSA to address their specific issues. This program has yielded promising results, with 87 per cent of the participants achieving improved safety outcomes and risk profile.
“TSSA is committed to strengthening our capability to collect and analyze data and strategically make use of those insights to target risk and improve safety,” said Rose. “As an Outcome-Based Regulator, we are focusing our resources on areas that pose the greatest threat to public safety and using all the proven tools to reduce the risk of harm for Ontarians.”
For a full picture of the state of public safety in Ontario, access TSSA’s 2023 Public Safety Report at www.tssa.org. The report includes case studies depicting some of the harmful incidents that occurred in Ontario in the past year, as well as actions taken and lessons learned.
About TSSA
Throughout Ontario, the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) administers provincial safety regulations and enhances public safety. TSSA regulates the safety of amusement devices, boilers and pressure vessels, elevating devices, fuels, operating engineers, and ski lifts. Its range of safety services include public education, authorization, engineering design review, inspections, investigations, compliance support, enforcement, and prosecution activities.
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