General
- What subjects are covered by the Legislation series™?
- Why should I subscribe to a Legislation series product?
- Why use the Legislation series when I can get legislation for free from other sources on the Internet?
- How Does the enviroOSH Legislation Service Help Meet Requirements Under ISO 14001?
- What are Acts and Regulations?
- What do legislative citations mean?
- How do I search for documents in specific jurisdiction(s)?
- How do I find the latest amendments in an Act or Regulation?
Content
- How is legislation selected for the EnviroOSH collection?
- Does the series include the complete text of the legislation?
- How can I find out if a particular document is available?
- Do you have the National Fire Code and the National Building Codes in the Legislation series?
- I don't need the full national collection - what do I do?
Currency
- How do you keep the legislation information up to date?
- What is the Legislation Notification Service?
Standards
- What is the difference between the Legislation series and the Legislation PLUS product?
- Are Standards available with the regional service?
- How do you decide which Standards to add?
- Why is the older standard in the database? Is the updated one available?
- Why is a CSA Standard Marked as Withdrawn?
General
What subjects are covered by the Legislation series™?
The Legislation series includes a wide range of topics affecting the environmental and workplace health and safety of Canadians. Topics include environmental protection, hazardous products, workplace health and safety, WHMIS, transportation of dangerous goods, workers' compensation, pesticides, noise levels, Canada Labour Code, etc.
Why should I subscribe to a Legislation series product??
The series saves valuable time to identify the information you require, to remain current and in compliance with the most up-to-date, consolidated text of acts, regulations and guidelines for all Canadian jurisdictions. The Legislation series provides information on the legal requirements for your workplace. Information on one or all jurisdictions is available instantly to you; as well, you can print or read the complete text of every document. The Legislation series is invaluable for preparing for critical audits and due diligence.
A number of provincial governments along with the federal government now make their legislation available on the Internet for free or at low cost. However, the CCOHS service makes environmental and OH&S legislation from all jurisdictions available in one spot. Users can hypertext link between documents, view/print graphics and tables and easily capture data for downloading. Cross-jurisdictional comparisons are very easy. As well, CCOHS updates legislation as soon as amendments and new legislation are available and you can easily identify "new" and "amended" documents.
How Does the enviroOSH Legislation Service Help Meet Requirements Under ISO 14001?
Since the enviroOSH Legislation service includes the full text of environmental legislation from all jurisdictions across Canada, it helps organizations meet the requirements specified in section 4.3.2 of the ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems Standard. The Notification service, which is included with the enviroOSH subscription, helps you to monitor the specific pieces of legislation that relate to your workplace and will notify you by email when changes are made to the legislation so you can implement them.
What are Acts and Regulations?
Legislation from the various Canadian jurisdictions includes Acts and Regulations. Acts are bills which are passed by the various parliaments (i.e., receive "Royal Assent"). Acts can either be new (original) Acts or amendments of existing ones. Regulations are laws under Acts, but do not require parliamentary approval (they are executive instruments of the governments). Like Acts, Regulations can be new (original) documents or amendments of existing Regulations.
What do legislative citations mean?
ACTS
Typically Canadian jurisdictions cite Acts in the same way, by assigning a year and chapter number. Chapter numbers are assigned in the order in which statutes receive Royal Assent in a given year. For example, "S.C. 2001, c. 34" stands for "Statutes of Canada 2001, chapter 34" and indicates that this statute was the 34th statute to be enacted in Canada in 2001.
Some jurisdictions still issue "revised statutes" which simply consolidate the changes made by any amendments since the last revision. Revised statutes are also assigned a year and chapter number, however, the chapter number will often take the form of a letter and number combination based on the Act title and where it falls in the revision. For example, the Canada Labour Code, last revised in 1985, would be cited as "R.S.C. 1985, c. L-2" or "Revised Statutes, 1985, chapter L-2".
REGULATIONS
Regulations follow a similar pattern to Acts. Annual regulations are assigned a Regulation number in the order in which they are filed that year. For example, "Alta. Reg. 28/2012" was the 28th regulation filed in Alberta in 2012.
Revised or Consolidated Regulations are typically cited in a manner similar to revised statutes, with the year or volume of the Revision and a Regulation Number reflecting where the document falls in the revision. Alternatively, some jurisdictions cite their regulations using the chapter number of the statute that they fall under, instead of a revision year. For example, "R.R.S. c. E-10.2, Reg. 9" stands for "Revised Regulations of Saskatchewan, chapter E-10.2, Regulation number 9".
In enviroOSH documents the original document citation appears directly under the name of the document.
Example (Statutes of Ontario):
ENVIRONMENTAL BILL OF RIGHTS, 1993 --> Act title
S.O. 1993, c. 28 --> original citation
Example (British Columbia Regulations):
Waste Discharge Regulation --> Regulation title
B.C. Reg. 320/2004 --> original citation
How do I search for documents in specific jurisdiction(s)?
When you search using the search window on the enviroOSH home page you are searching the entire legislation collection. To search for documents from a particular jurisdiction, click on the jurisdiction flag on the home page and it will take you to the page for that jurisdiction. Search using the search window on that page to narrow your results to documents only in that jurisdiction. Or, you can use the Advanced Search page. Just check off the specific jurisdiction(s) you want to search.
How do I find the latest amendments in an Act or Regulation?
When an act or regulation is amended, an amendment history is provided at the top of the document after the citation, for example "As amended by: S.C. 2012, c. 19". An amendment history to an individual section or schedule is also indicated immediately after the amended section or schedule.
The latest amendment to the document is highlighted in purple in the amendment history at the top of the document. As well, the amended text is highlighted in purple to indicate where amendments have been applied. To locate the amendments you can scroll down the document looking for purple text, however, for large documents it is easier to perform a "Find" on the document (Ctrl + F) for the amendment number. For example, if the latest amendment is "S.C. 2012, c. 19", click Ctrl + F to search "2012, c. 19" and it will take you to the end of each section or schedule where this amendment takes place. Scroll up to see the purple amended text. Note that amendments to tables are not highlighted in purple.
Content
How is legislation selected for the EnviroOSH collection?
Legislation in the field of health, safety and environment is identified by monitoring official gazettes, legislative web sites and news services of Canadian jurisdictions. Selection is based primarily on whether the legislation has a core occupational health, safety and environmental characteristic. Legislation with peripheral relevance is added on a case by case basis, depending upon the jurisdiction and perceived need.
Legislation relating primarily to fees, or with limited geographic scope is not generally included.
Does the series include the complete text of the legislation?
CCOHS provides the complete text of all acts, regulations, guidelines and codes of practice in the series. As such, the user is able to determine the context of his or her requirements and be certain of comprehensive coverage. In a very few cases, we may include excerpts of the legislation if only one or two sections are relevant to health, safety and the environment. The complete text of such legislation will of course always be available through Client Services.
How can I find out if a particular document is available?
At present, over 4,000 acts, regulations, codes and guidelines are available. Client Services can provide you with a list of legislation in the collection or you can visit the Legislation web site at www.ccohs.ca/legislation for a complete listing. If the legislation or guideline you are looking for is not in the collection but you feel it is relevant to health and safety in Canada, please contact Client Services with a complete citation and we will add the document as soon as we can.
Do you have the National Fire Code and the National Building Codes in the Legislation series?
Although these documents are critical to many of the users of the Legislation series, we have been unable to make an arrangement yet with the National Research Council to reproduce them. You must contact the National Research Council directly for print or electronic versions.
I don't need the full national collection - what do I do?
The Legislation series is also available by geographic area - Ontario, Eastern Canada and Western Canada. Each regional collection also contains all the federal legislation since it applies to all jurisdictions in Canada.
Currency
How do you keep the legislation information up to date?
CCOHS staff review the latest gazettes from the jurisdictions for the most recent legislation and amendments. Legislation on the Internet is updated daily. Subscribers to the Legislation series receive a free monthly update service listing the progress of proposed legislation, amendments incorporated in the previous month, recently repealed legislation and documents to be added to the collection. Amended text is indicated in purple.
Web Tip: when viewing a list of documents in each jurisdiction you can choose flags to highlight the documents amended or new since:
- Your last visit
- 1 month
- 3 months
- 6 months
- 1 year.
What is the Legislation Notification Service?
This service allows subscribers to receive an automatic e-mail notification when a change occurs to documents you have marked for tracking. While viewing a document, you can add or remove the document to your custom tracking list.
Standards
What is the difference between the Legislation series and the Legislation plus product?
The Legislation PLUS Standards service includes all of the legislation in the Legislation series as well as the full-text of standards referenced in the legislation. To date, over 1,000 standards from the CSA International, the BC Workers' Compensation Board (BC WCB), and the Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB) are included.
Are Standards available with the regional service?
Yes, standards are also available with the regional collections.
How do you decide which Standards to add?
All CSA International and Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB) standards referenced in the legislation are included in the collection along with any amendments. Standards from the BC Workers' Compensation Board of British Columbia have also been incorporated.
Why is the older standard in the database? Is the updated one available?
Standards are cited in legislation in various ways:
- reference to a standard generally, for example the Canadian Electrical Code,
- a specific version, "as amended from time to time",
- or a specific version of a standard in legislation, for example, CSA Standard Z91- M1980 although there may be a newer version.
CCOHS acquires the cited versions as well the most recent version to ensure that all users have access to the most recent information.
Why is a CSA Standard Marked as Withdrawn?
A CSA standard marked as Withdrawn indicates that the product has been withdrawn from active sale on CSA's online store.
This status is used if:
- The standard is withdrawn and not replaced
- There has been a change in the product designation, e.g. if CSA A123-1990 is superseded by CSA 2345-2012
- It is no longer supported by a CSA committee (interpretations, amendments or new edition)
- CSA makes no claim as to its relevancy with regards to current technologies or practices
Note: CSA makes withdrawn standards available for informational purposes as special orders
Please contact CCOHS Client Services if you have further questions about these products and services.
