Ontario Joint Health and Safety Committee certification — written from the Chief Prevention Officer’s Part One Program Standard as amended July 1, 2026
About the certification
A Joint Health and Safety Committee is required under section 9 of Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act at any workplace where twenty or more workers are regularly employed. At least one member representing the employer and one representing workers must be certified by the Chief Prevention Officer.
Certification takes two training programs. Part One is generic to every workplace regardless of sector and covers health and safety law, the roles of the workplace parties, hazard recognition, assessment, control and evaluation, how committees function, member and certified member duties, and where to find health and safety information. Part Two then applies those concepts to at least six hazards relevant to your own workplace, and must be completed within 12 months of Part One.
Both the program and the provider must be approved by the Chief Prevention Officer. Part One runs a minimum of three days (19.5 hours) face-to-face, with classes of 6 to 25 learners, and ends in a standardized written evaluation with a 75% pass mark. Once certified, you keep certification by completing Refresher training every three years.
This free practice quiz covers the Part One written evaluation, with 185 original questions across the standard’s eleven learning-outcome areas — written against the current standard, not the pre-July-2026 version that much of the material online still reflects.
What’s covered
The eleven categories below map onto Part One learning outcomes 8.1.1 through 8.1.13 of the Joint Health and Safety Committee Certification Training Program Standard.
Try a few
Five questions pulled from the full bank, with the answer shown — use the quiz above for the real timed experience.
Why: Twenty or more regularly employed workers is the main trigger. Below that — where the number of workers regularly exceeds five — s.8(1) requires a health and safety representative instead.
Why: This is one of the July 2026 changes and it reverses the old rule. Appendix B, Part C3 now lets a previously certified member recertify by completing Refresher training alone, and the one-time exemption process was removed entirely.
Why: Most study guides still cite Reg 834, but it was revoked on July 1, 2021 and the definition moved to O. Reg. 420/21 s.1(1). The seven-part wording itself did not change — only where it lives.
Why: Section 9(33) sets quarterly meetings. Don't confuse it with the separate monthly workplace inspection requirement in s.9(26) — swapping the two is one of the most common errors on the Part One evaluation.
Why: The harassment program must be written and developed in consultation with the committee. The workplace violence program under s.32.0.2 carries no equivalent consultation wording — there, the committee is advised of the results of the risk assessment under s.32.0.3(3).
Numbers worth memorising
Most of what a Part One evaluation can test is pinned to a specific number in the OHSA or the Program Standard. These are the ones worth knowing cold — and the pairs that get mixed up most often sit next to each other here.
FAQ
JHSC stands for Joint Health and Safety Committee. Under section 9 of Ontario's Occupational Health and Safety Act, a Joint Health and Safety Committee is required at any workplace where twenty or more workers are regularly employed. It is 'joint' because at least half its members must be workers who do not exercise managerial functions, selected by the workers themselves or by their trade union rather than appointed by the employer.
Part One is the first of two training programs a Joint Health and Safety Committee member completes to become a certified member. It is generic to all workplaces regardless of sector, and covers occupational health and safety law, the rights and duties of the workplace parties, hazard recognition, assessment, control and evaluation, how committees work, the duties of members and certified members, and health and safety resources. Part Two then applies those concepts to at least six hazards specific to your own workplace.
Six things. Hybrid learning was added as an approved delivery mode, so some learners can attend in person while others join virtually. The workplace violence and harassment learning outcomes were strengthened, as was the classroom code of ethics and the content on occupational illness. The requirement to retake Parts One and Two after a certification lapses was removed — Refresher training alone now restores it. And the one-time exemption process was removed.
A minimum of 75 per cent on a standardized evaluation in a form acceptable to the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. Section 9.1 of the Program Standard also requires at least one hour to be allotted for administering it, and makes the approved training provider responsible for marking it and giving you feedback on the result.
Face-to-face, distance and hybrid delivery are all a minimum of three days (19.5 hours), with class sizes between 6 and 25 learners. Fully self-paced eLearning is two days (13 hours) and must be completed within 30 days. Blended delivery keeps the full 19.5 hours but allows up to 6.5 hours of eLearning, covering only outcomes 8.1.1, 8.1.2, 8.1.5 and 8.1.6. Part Two and Refresher cannot be delivered by eLearning at all.
Twelve months. Appendix B of the Training and Other Requirements sets the deadline from the date you completed a qualifying Part One program, and Part Two must cover at least six hazards relevant to your workplace. After certification you need Refresher training within three years, and every three years after that.
No. Only the Chief Prevention Officer can certify a committee member, under OHSA s.7.6, and only after you complete a CPO-approved Part One program delivered by a CPO-approved provider, followed by Part Two. This quiz is free study practice for the Part One written evaluation.
The 185-question bank was written from primary sources: the current Joint Health and Safety Committee Certification Training Program Standard on ontario.ca (last updated August 5, 2026, reflecting the July 1, 2026 amendments), the Occupational Health and Safety Act itself, and O. Reg. 420/21, all read directly from Ontario's e-Laws. Every explanation names the section it comes from so you can verify it.