Employer's duty to ensure safety.

• Position: Business Law - Brief Article

An act to amend the Criminal Code places the onus on business leaders to ensure employee health and safety, or face charges of criminal negligence.

Bill C-45 defines who is responsible for the safety of persons in the workplace and allows for prosecution under the charges of "criminal negligence" when those responsibilities are recklessly or willfully disregarded. The act received Royal Assent Nov 7, 2003.

The amendment notes that "everyone 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...