Bill C-45 and the Westray Law: What Supervisors in Canada Need to Know

What Bill C-45 Changed After the Westray Mine Disaster

On May 9, 1992, methane gas and coal dust ignited at the Westray Mine in Pictou County, Nova Scotia, killing 26 miners. Employees, union officials and government inspectors had raised safety concerns beforehand. The disaster led Parliament to change how criminal liability applies to workplace deaths and injuries.

The result was Bill C-45, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (criminal liability of organizations), which came into force on March 31, 2004. It made three changes that matter to every Canadian employer:

• A legal duty for anyone who directs work. Section 217.1 put the duty to take reasonable steps to prevent bodily harm directly into the Criminal Code.
• A clearer route to holding organizations responsible. Companies and other organizations can be convicted based on the conduct of their representatives and senior officers.
• Tougher sentencing for organizations. Fines for indictable offences have no upper limit, and courts can attach probation conditions to a company.

Section 217.1: The Bill C-45 Duty to Take Reasonable Steps

The heart of Bill C-45 is one sentence in the Criminal Code: “Every one who undertakes, or has the authority, to direct how another person does work or performs a task is under a legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent bodily harm to that person, or any other person, arising from that work or task.”

That wording reaches well beyond the boardroom. Owners, managers, foremen, crew leads and contractors who direct work can all carry the duty, and it protects anyone the work could hurt, not just the worker doing it.

Reasonable steps doesn't mean perfection. In practice, it means the precautions a careful person in the same role would take, given the hazards they knew about or should have known about.

The duty matters because criminal negligence is built on it. Under section 219, a person is criminally negligent if, in doing something or in failing to do something that is their legal duty, they show “wanton or reckless disregard for the lives or safety of other persons.” The Supreme Court of Canada has described that as a marked and substantial departure from what a reasonably prudent person would do. Causing death by criminal negligence carries a maximum of life imprisonment, and causing bodily harm by criminal negligence carries up to 10 years when prosecuted as an indictable offence.

How a Company Becomes Responsible Under the Westray Law

The Criminal Code defines an organization's representatives broadly: directors, partners, employees, members, agents and contractors. A senior officer is a representative who plays an important role in setting the organization's policies or “is responsible for managing an important aspect of the organization's activities.” In a corporation, that includes its directors, chief executive officer and chief financial officer.

Under section 22.1, an organization is a party to a negligence offence when a representative acting within their authority is a party to it, and the responsible senior officer departs markedly from the standard of care that could reasonably be expected to prevent it. In plain terms, the company is exposed when front-line conduct and management oversight both fall well short.

Sentencing changed too. An organization convicted of an indictable offence can be fined any amount the court decides, and courts must weigh factors such as any measures it has taken to prevent a repeat. Probation conditions can require a company to set up safety policies, report to the court on them and publish details of the offence.

What the Courts Have Done With Bill C-45

The Department of Justice Canada summarizes several workplace cases decided under these provisions. A few stand out for employers:

• Metron Construction: four workers died and one was severely injured. The trial judge fined the company $200,000, and the Ontario Court of Appeal raised the fine to $750,000, finding the original sentence didn't adequately reflect the importance of worker safety.
• Kazenelson: the project manager on the same job was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for criminal negligence causing death and bodily harm.
• Transpavé: the company was fined $100,000 plus a $10,000 victim surcharge, after the court noted it had spent more than $750,000 on safety improvements.
• Fournier: an employer convicted of manslaughter received 18 months in jail followed by two years of probation.

The risk doesn't sit only with the company. It sits with the people who direct the work and the managers who oversee them.

Bill C-45 and Provincial OHS Law Work Side by Side

Bill C-45 is federal criminal law, investigated by police and prosecuted by the Crown. Day-to-day safety duties come from occupational health and safety (OHS) legislation, which is provincial for most employers and federal for federally regulated workplaces under Part II of the Canada Labour Code. The two run in parallel, so a serious incident can lead to an OHS investigation, a police investigation or both.

Supervisor duties aren't identical across Western Canada. Alberta requires supervisors to protect the workers they supervise and advise them of all known or reasonably foreseeable hazards. British Columbia's Workers Compensation Act requires supervisors to ensure the health and safety of workers under their direct supervision and to know the OHS requirements for that work. Saskatchewan expects supervisors to make sure hazards are identified and controlled, and to correct unsafe acts and conditions.

Provincial OHS offences are regulatory, and employers generally defend them by showing due diligence. WorkSafeBC describes due diligence as “taking all reasonable steps to protect workers from harm,” backed by evidence that the safety program is implemented, enforced and checked. That's the same evidence that matters if a criminal investigation ever follows. Our earlier article on OH&S due diligence in Canada covers the provincial side in more detail.

Records That Show Reasonable Steps Were Taken

After a serious incident, the questions are what was known, what was done about it and when. Ordinary records answer them: hazard assessments, training and competency records, inspection reports, toolbox talk notes, coaching records and closed corrective actions.

Records only help when they match what happens on site. A signed field-level hazard assessment that ignores the open edge everyone walked past shows a gap, not diligence.

Investigations belong in that record too. Our guides on how to investigate a workplace incident and how to conduct a root cause analysis show how to find the real causes and fix them.

Common Misunderstandings About Bill C-45

“It only applies to executives.” Section 217.1 applies to anyone who directs work, and the definition of senior officer can reach managers who run an important part of the operation.

“Our safety manual protects us.” A manual that isn't followed mainly shows what the company knew it should have been doing. What counts is whether the controls were in place.

“COR or SECOR keeps us safe from charges.” Certification shows a safety program met an audit standard at a point in time. It doesn't decide whether reasonable steps were taken on the day of an incident.

Why This Matters for Your Business

A serious failure to take reasonable steps hurts people first. It can also expose the company and its supervisors to criminal charges, OHS prosecutions and orders, and uncapped fines for organizations.

The business costs follow quickly: work stoppages, higher WCB claims costs, rushed corrective actions and harder questions during contractor prequalification. COR and SECOR audits look at many of the same records, so weak supervision evidence usually shows up as lost audit points first.

The protection is the same in every case: clear supervisor expectations, real hazard control and honest records that support audit readiness and a credible due diligence position.

Final Thoughts

Bill C-45 didn't create a new kind of safety program. It made the duty behind every good program a matter of criminal law for anyone who directs work. For most supervisors, meeting it means doing the basics consistently and writing down what they did.

This week, pick one job your supervisors direct. Could they show, from their own records, the reasonable steps they took yesterday? If not, start there, and contact Calgary Safety Consultants when you'd like an experienced second set of eyes.

This article is general information, not legal advice. If a serious incident has happened, get legal advice early.

About the author

John Duplessis, B.Sc., CRSP

President and Principal Health & Safety Consultant

John Duplessis is a Canadian Registered Safety Professional with more than 30 years of occupational health and safety experience in oil and gas, construction, green energy, midstream operations, and industrial project work.

Meet our team