Firefighters To Receive Fire-Related Illness Coverage
November 5, 2009 11:50 AM
McGuinty Government Supports Volunteer And Part-Time Firefighters
Ontario is making it easier for the province's volunteer and part-time firefighters and fire investigators, who suffer fire-related illnesses, to qualify for benefits under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act.
The province has established a new regulation which presumes that eight types of cancer - as well as heart injuries within 24 hours of fighting a fire or a training exercise - that are suffered by these workers would be work-related, unless proven otherwise. The same presumptions currently apply to full-time firefighters in Ontario.
The regulation will apply to volunteer and part-time firefighters and fire investigators from the Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal who meet certain conditions and to diseases diagnosed or heart injuries sustained on or after Jan. 1, 1960.
Quick Facts
- In Ontario, there are about 11,000 full-time firefighters, 19,000 volunteer firefighters and 220 part-time firefighters. Forty-six fire investigators from the Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal are on active duty.
- An amendment to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997, received Royal Assent on May 4, 2007, allowing the government to make regulations affecting Ontario's full-time, part-time and volunteer firefighters and fire investigators.
Learn More
- Firefighter Occupational Diseases
- Find out more about the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act
- Explore the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board website
Contacts
- Matt Blajer
Communications Branch
416-326-7405
- Emily Bullock
Minister's Office
416-326-7713
Ministry of Labour
ontario.ca/labour