Mechanically generated from the GOV-ATLAS registry (our public-body and document registries); every field is a direct read of a registry cell, re-derived on each run — nothing here is hand-written analysis.

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety

Federal Agency Tier 1 verified
registry id: fed-canadian-centre-occupational-health-safety · last checked 2026-07-23 · parent: — none on file · source authority: verify this org exists

FOI via central portal; open data org page fetch timed out, omitted

Current this library's internal records: CCOHS 2026-2027 Departmental Plan (2027)

Completeness

Endpoints

Document shelf (14 rows)

YearTypeTitleArchive statusFlags
2025Annual reportCCOHS Annual Report: April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025archived
2024Annual reportCCOHS Annual Report: April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024archived
2023Annual reportCCOHS Annual Report: April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023archived
2022Annual reportCCOHS Annual Report: April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022archived
2021Annual reportCCOHS Annual Report: April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021archived
2020Annual reportCCOHS Annual Report: April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020archived
2019Annual reportCCOHS Annual Report: April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019archived
2018Annual reportCCOHS Annual Report: April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018archived
2017Annual reportCCOHS Annual Report: April 1, 2016 to March 31, 2017archived
2016Annual reportCCOHS Annual Report: April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016archived
2015Annual reportCCOHS Annual Report: April 1, 2014 to March 31, 2015archived
2014Annual reportCCOHS: 2013-2014 Annual Reportarchived
2013Annual reportCCOHS Annual Report 2012-2013archived⚠️ Still being checked: pattern-inferred
1999Annual reportCCOHS Annual Report 1998-1999archived

Backgrounder

Source: this library's internal records — a mechanical research draft, not independently reviewed for publication; reproduced as-is.

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety - backgrounder

Backgrounder / 2026-07-30 / registry row: fed-canadian-centre-occupational-health-safety (this library's government-document registry) / lens file for this org's series briefs

Mandate & statutory basis

Established by the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Act, R.S.C., 1985, c. C-13 (https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-13/index.html - link verified, title/citation/section structure confirmed, current to 2026-06-14). Section 2 states the Act's purpose is to "promote the fundamental right of Canadians to a healthy and safe working environment" via a national occupational health and safety research institute whose governing body represents workers, trade unions, employers, governments, the professional community, and the public (statute, full text at https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-13/FullText.html).

Roles, responsibilities & scope

Under section 5, the Centre advances workplace health and mental wellness, facilitates federal/provincial/territorial cooperation with labour and management participation, develops policy to eliminate occupational hazards, and serves as Canada's national repository for occupational health and safety statistics and information (statute, FullText.html). Its stated mandate is "to provide easy access to credible information on occupational health and safety to help workers in Canada be safe at work, and support employers, labour groups and governments in their efforts to create healthy and safe workplaces" (CCOHS 2026-27 Departmental Plan, https://www.ccohs.ca/ccohs/reports/dp/2026-27/dp-full-page.html).

Governance & reporting line

Governed by a tripartite Council of roughly 22 members appointed by the Governor in Council: one Chair, 13 governors (one per province/territory), 4 nominated by worker organizations, and 4 nominated by employer organizations, plus a President as institutional head/CEO (statute, s.7, s.10; 2026-27 Departmental Plan names Anne Tennier, P.Eng., as President and CEO). Section 26 requires the Council to submit an annual report (activities, public submissions, financial statements) to the responsible Minister within four months of fiscal year-end, who must table it in Parliament within ten sitting days and distribute copies to every province and territory (statute, FullText.html). As of the 2026-27 Departmental Plan, the reporting minister is the Minister of Jobs and Families and Minister Responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario (2026-27 Departmental Plan, as above). Registry lists org_type as "agency" with no listed parent (registry row, registry id fed-canadian-centre-occupational-health-safety).

Budget scale

~$15.5M total planned spending for FY2026-27 (110.7 planned FTEs) (CCOHS 2026-27 Departmental Plan, https://www.ccohs.ca/ccohs/reports/dp/2026-27/dp-full-page.html).

Institutional history

Established 1978 under the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Act (now R.S.C., 1985, c. C-13); the Act has been amended since (last amendment 2012-06-29 per the consolidated text), but ⚠️ still being checked - specific renaming/reorganization events beyond the 2012 amendment were not independently confirmed this review (2026-27 Departmental Plan states 1978 year of establishment; statute).

Strategy evolution brief

Source: this library's internal records — a mechanical research draft, not independently reviewed for publication; reproduced as-is.

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety - strategy evolution

2026-08-01 (rolling continuation) / registry: fed-canadian-centre-occupational-health-safety / grounded in archived copies (cited document id + sha256) / read through our research file for that body

TL;DR: With 13 of 14 registered annual reports successfully extracted (a rare 100% usable-content rate in this batch), the record traces CCOHS from its 2018-2023 "5 Year Strategic Plan" — built around four priority sectors (healthcare, construction, agriculture and fishery, Indigenous enterprises) — to the newer Strategic Plan 2023-2027, whose biggest addition is a reframed headline priority-sector list ("small business," federally regulated organizations, and a new "Workers at Higher Risk" category) that quietly drops the four original named sectors as dedicated subsections. The most concrete recent addition is the CCOHS Business Safety Portal, launched nationally in November 2024 with free access for all Ontario WSIB-registered businesses. The load-bearing number is continuous budget growth — Total expenses actual rose from $11,167,506 (FY2016-17) to $16,454,159 (FY2024-25), roughly 47% over eight years with no year-over-year decline. The open question: the registry classifies CCOHS as an "agency" while every recent annual report self-describes it as "a federal departmental corporation," a discrepancy this record cannot resolve.

Backgrounder summary

The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) was established in 1978 by the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-13, to "promote the fundamental right of Canadians to a healthy and safe working environment" through a national OH&S research institute. Under section 5, it advances workplace health and mental wellness, facilitates federal/provincial/territorial cooperation, develops hazard-elimination policy, and serves as Canada's national repository of OH&S statistics and information. It is governed by a tripartite Council of roughly 22 members (Chair, 13 provincial/territorial governors, 4 worker-nominated, 4 employer-nominated) plus a President/CEO; the Council must submit an annual report to the responsible Minister within four months of fiscal year-end for tabling in Parliament. The 2026-27 Departmental Plan names Anne Tennier, P.Eng., as President and CEO and lists the reporting minister as the Minister of Jobs and Families and Minister Responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario, with ~$15.5M total planned spending and 110.7 planned FTEs for FY2026-27. Registry lists org_type as "agency" with no parent.

Series inventory

The registry holds 14 rows for this org, all doc_type: annual-report. 13 of the 14 were successfully archived and extracted; the 14th (ar-2014, FY2013-14) has archive_status: missing with flag ⚠️ still being checked — the web archive was unreachable when we looked and was never captured — it is a distinct archiving gap, not part of the "13 registered documents" this brief's extraction-rate claim covers. All 13 extracted .txt files were opened and read directly (not inferred from filenames): none contain the ~804-char publications.gc.ca "Information Archived on the Web" stub, a 404 page, or any other content-free interstitial — a full-text grep for stub/error markers across all 13 files returned zero matches, and financial-statement figures cross-check cleanly year-over-year (each year's prior-year comparative column matches the adjoining document's current-year figure exactly, e.g. Total expenses FY2016-17 $11,167,506 in ar-2018's own prior-year column and again as ar-2019's prior-year column). True usable-content rate: 13 of 13 extracted documents (100%) yielded real, substantive report content. The series runs FY1998-99 and FY2012-13, then continuously FY2014-15 through FY2024-25 (no FY2013-14 document, per the registry gap above); no document type other than "Annual Report of the Council" is registered for this org — no Departmental Plan or Departmental Results Report is present here (see Residuals & gaps).

document id year type archive ref sha256-12 content read?
fed-canadian-centre-occupational-health-safety-ar-1999 1999 annual-report 127ce4994969 yes
fed-canadian-centre-occupational-health-safety-ar-2013 2013 annual-report e81b8988e2ec yes
fed-canadian-centre-occupational-health-safety-ar-2015 2015 annual-report 6d4ecf410d82 yes
fed-canadian-centre-occupational-health-safety-ar-2016 2016 annual-report 59a9a4522826 yes
fed-canadian-centre-occupational-health-safety-ar-2017 2017 annual-report e925bcae0021 yes
fed-canadian-centre-occupational-health-safety-ar-2018 2018 annual-report 28d7809c78ee yes
fed-canadian-centre-occupational-health-safety-ar-2019 2019 annual-report 12dddbef54f5 yes
fed-canadian-centre-occupational-health-safety-ar-2020 2020 annual-report 85e87ef4247a yes
fed-canadian-centre-occupational-health-safety-ar-2021 2021 annual-report 5774c53c4306 yes
fed-canadian-centre-occupational-health-safety-ar-2022 2022 annual-report 62e28e3de635 yes
fed-canadian-centre-occupational-health-safety-ar-2023 2023 annual-report e5c4c9d98904 yes
fed-canadian-centre-occupational-health-safety-ar-2024 2024 annual-report 1516d9fd7ac9 yes
fed-canadian-centre-occupational-health-safety-ar-2025 2025 annual-report 6edf16473aa6 yes

Priority evolution

FY1998-99 (ar-1999, 127ce4994969): The earliest document in the series shows no formal named "strategic plan" or numbered priorities — the President's message (S. Len Hong) frames the mission simply as helping "everyone in our field attain our collective OH&S goals and objectives," under the Act's 1978 mandate "to promote health and safety in the workplace." The Council of Governors is already tripartite (Chair, labour, employer, provincial/territorial seats). Financials: Total expenditures $6,898,172 (vs. $6,724,454 prior year); Total non-tax revenue $4,239,754; Net cost of operations $2,658,418. Audited by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (Richard Flageole, Assistant Auditor General).

FY2012-13 (ar-2013, e81b8988e2ec): President and CEO Steve Horvath, one year into his term, frames the year as one of "transformation" toward becoming "more effective as a customer-centric organization." No formal numbered strategic-priorities framework is present. Total expenses: $10,230,279 (planned) / $10,271,966 (actual) vs. $10,759,236 (prior actual). CCOHS spoke at the NAOSH Week national launch in Toronto, Ontario (May 7, 2012).

FY2014-15 and FY2015-16 (ar-2015, 6d4ecf410d82; ar-2016, 59a9a4522826): Still no formal numbered strategic-priorities framework — the FY2014-15 message references "a strategic plan that affirms our guiding principles" without naming discrete priorities. FY2015-16 (ar-2016) is a leadership-transition year: outgoing president Steve Horvath is thanked for "his leadership and contributions to the Centre during his five-year term," and Gareth Jones is named "Acting President." The Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW) partnership (StressAssess) begins appearing this period.

FY2016-17 (ar-2017, e925bcae0021): Gareth Jones now signs as (non-acting) "President and CEO." No formal strategic-priorities framework yet; "strategy" language remains generic. Total expenses actual $11,167,506 (per ar-2018's prior-year comparative).

FY2017-18 (ar-2018, 28d7809c78ee): Anne Tennier signs as "President and CEO" for the first time in the series — a second leadership change within three years. The year's "overall focus and strategy" is described narratively (forefront of health and safety, growth, geographic coverage) without a named/numbered plan; identified "high risk sectors" are listed as "construction, transportation, mining, and healthcare" — a sector list that does not match the four sectors formalized the following year. Total expenses actual $11,472,743 (vs. $11,167,506 prior).

FY2018-19 (ar-2019, 12dddbef54f5): The Council/President message states "we were pleased in 2018 to launch our new strategic plan" — the first appearance in this series of a formally named, numbered strategic-planning framework: the "5 Year Strategic Plan" (2018-2023), built on three Key Strategic Priorities — "developing national leadership on emerging issues," "addressing priority sectors," and "building a national repository of current knowledge, standards, statistics, and other information tools." Four named priority sectors are set out for the plan's duration: healthcare, construction, agriculture and fishery, and Indigenous enterprises. Current health-and-safety issues named alongside the sectors: workplace mental health, impairment, harassment and violence, and occupational disease. Total expenses: $11,340,211 (planned) / $11,771,209 (actual) vs. $11,472,743 (prior actual).

FY2019-20 (ar-2020, 85e87ef4247a): The "Five Year Strategic Plan 2018-2023" and its three Key Strategic Priorities continue unchanged, restated with an infographic. A planned XXII World Congress on Safety and Health at Work, to be co-hosted with the Institute for Work and Health in Toronto, Ontario, October 4-7, 2020, is disclosed as "postponed to September 19-22, 2021" due to COVID-19 (footnote, at time of report production). Total expenses actual $12,201,850 (vs. $11,771,209 prior).

FY2020-21 (ar-2021, 5774c53c4306): Same three Key Strategic Priorities carried through "into the third year of the five year strategic plan." The Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations came into force January 1, 2021; CCOHS begins hosting a "Roster of Investigators" and develops three supporting online courses this year — a new mandate-adjacent deliverable not present in earlier documents. The financial notes disclose a new Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) agreement (total $1.5M over two years, $1.015M recognized this year) for COVID-19 workplace guidance content, plus a separate "Business Resumption Funding" agreement ($2.5M over two years, ~$1.28M recognized this year) for personnel/operating costs. Total expenses: $12,365,191 (planned) / $13,177,926 (actual) vs. $12,201,850 (prior actual).

FY2021-22 (ar-2022, 62e28e3de635): "Completing the fourth year of its five-year strategic plan," the same three Key Strategic Priorities are restated. The postponed World Congress is delivered as "the first ever virtual XXII World Congress" (September 2021, with the Institute for Work and Health) rather than in person in Toronto. Remaining PHAC ($0.485M) and Business Resumption Funding ($1.22M) amounts are recognized this year. Total expenses actual $14,590,070 (vs. $13,177,926 prior).

FY2022-23 (ar-2023, e5c4c9d98904): The Council/President message states explicitly: "this year we retired our strategic plan and mapped out a new four-year strategy to take us into 2027," developed via stakeholder/staff surveys and interviews and synthesized into the new "CCOHS Strategic Plan 2023-2027." Named priorities for the new plan include "service excellence and commitment to our staff." The document's own title format also reverts this year from "CCOHS Annual Report" (used ar-2013 through ar-2022) back to the 1999-era "Annual Report of the Council." Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) survey questions are added to user-experience surveys for the first time in the series this year. Total expenses actual $15,081,735 (vs. $14,590,070 prior).

FY2023-24 (ar-2024, 1516d9fd7ac9): The Strategic Plan 2023-2027 is now in force ("guided by our new strategic plan"). The named priority-sector framing changes materially from the retired plan: priority sectors are now "small business" and federal government agencies/public administration, and a new "Workers at Higher Risk" category (new and young workers, international guest workers) replaces the former healthcare/construction/agriculture-and-fishery/Indigenous-enterprises sector list as the headline framing (though construction- and agriculture-related content continues to appear as embedded topic examples, not as named priority-sector headers). CCOHS reports completing its first-ever Sustainable Development Strategy, the "2023 to 2027 Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy," tabled October 2023 under the Federal Sustainable Development Act. The reporting minister is named as "the Honourable Seamus O'Regan Jr., Minister of Labour and Seniors" — a title distinct from the plain "Minister of Labour" used through ar-2022. Total expenses actual $15,987,005 (vs. $15,081,735 prior).

FY2024-25 (ar-2025, 6edf16473aa6): The Strategic Plan 2023-2027 continues, with priority sectors restated as small and medium-sized businesses, federally regulated organizations, and workers at higher risk (now described as "young, new, aging, gig, and guest (temporary international) workers"). The CCOHS Business Safety Portal launches nationally in November 2024, with a new partnership giving all Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB)-registered businesses free access. The 2023-2024 Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy Report is published, with the plan itself "updated in January 2025 to more accurately align targets with departmental capacity." The reporting minister/department line changes again, to "the Minister of Jobs and Families and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario" — matching the backgrounder's 2026-27 Departmental Plan citation and confirming this rename had already taken effect within the fiscal year this document covers. Total expenses actual $16,454,159 (vs. $15,987,005 prior) — the highest in the series.

Priorities added, dropped, renamed

Budget & mandate inflection points

Ontario/Toronto relevance

CCOHS's sole disclosed physical address across every document in the series that states one (ar-1999 127ce4994969 through ar-2025 6edf16473aa6) is Hamilton, Ontario — not Toronto. Hamilton is roughly 70 km from Toronto and is never described in the text as part of a "Greater Toronto Area" designation; no Toronto office, facility, or physical presence is disclosed anywhere in the series. Toronto-specific mentions that do appear are incidental rather than programmatic: an on-site training delivered for the "Ministry of Labour (Toronto)" (ar-1999, 127ce4994969); the NAOSH Week national launch, at which President Steve Horvath spoke, held in Toronto, Ontario in May 2012 (ar-2013, e81b8988e2ec); University of Toronto researchers and students appearing as podcast guests and scholarship winners (ar-2018 28d7809c78ee, ar-2023 e5c4c9d98904); and generic press citations (Toronto Star, Toronto Sun) among dozens of media outlets listed in annual media-coverage tallies (ar-2016 59a9a4522826, ar-2017 e925bcae0021, ar-2019 12dddbef54f5, ar-2020 85e87ef4247a). A concrete Toronto-hosted event — the XXII World Congress on Safety and Health at Work, planned for October 2020 in Toronto with the Institute for Work and Health — was first postponed due to COVID-19 (ar-2020, 85e87ef4247a) and then delivered as a virtual event in September 2021 rather than in person (ar-2022, 62e28e3de635); no in-person Toronto event materialized within the archived series.

Ontario's relevance to CCOHS is real but is a province-wide usage/partnership pattern, not a Toronto-specific one: Ontario is consistently the top or near-top province across nearly every usage metric disclosed in every year that reports one — website visits, e-course enrolments, and Safety InfoLine inquiries — from ar-2013 (e81b8988e2ec, "Ontario 47%") through ar-2025 (6edf16473aa6, "Ontario 44%" on the English site). CCOHS maintains a recurring, multi-year partnership with the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW) — StressAssess, Prevent Occupational Disease, Ontario Occupational Disease Statistics, and the Silica Control Tool — appearing in ar-2015 (6d4ecf410d82) through ar-2025 (6edf16473aa6). It also maintains a recurring web/app partnership with the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association (IHSA), an Ontario construction-safety body, from at least ar-2017 (e925bcae0021) through ar-2024 (1516d9fd7ac9). The most recent and most formal Ontario tie in the series is the November 2024 partnership with Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), giving WSIB-registered businesses free access to the new Business Safety Portal (ar-2025, 6edf16473aa6). None of these — usage share, OHCOW, IHSA, or WSIB — are described in the text as Toronto-specific; the text does not state where WSIB, OHCOW, or IHSA are headquartered, so no Toronto-specific claim should be inferred from them.

Residuals & gaps