---
title: 'Ontario Workplace Safety Fines: 269 Convictions, $29.6 Million'
description: 269 OHSA convictions from 2018 to 2025. Median fine of $80,000 overall,
  rising to $175,000 in 2025.
source: Duty Room
source_url: https://dutyroom.com
published_on: '2026-05-25'
updated_on: '2026-05-25'
market: ca
submarket: 'on'
sectors:
- all
category: longitudinal
canonical_url: https://dutyroom.com/ca/on/reports/workplace-safety-fines
data_vintage: 2018-2025
---

# Ontario Workplace Safety Fines: 269 Convictions, $29.6 Million

269 OHSA convictions from 2018 to 2025. Median fine of $80,000 overall, rising to $175,000 in 2025.

Reported Ontario OHSA convictions in 2025 are already landing at a $175,000 median. That's more than double the 2018 median, even before AMP penalties start showing up in the record. The numbers come from 269 Ministry conviction releases published between 2018 and 2025.

## A worker's death costs double

Fatalities attract fines roughly twice as high as non-fatal injuries.

| Outcome | Convictions | Median fine | Mean fine |
|---------|----------:|----------:|----------:|
| Fatality | 92 | $130,000 | $161,548 |
| Critical injury | 107 | $75,000 | $87,911 |
| Injury | 67 | $65,000 | $76,223 |

Ninety-two of the 269 convictions involved a worker's death. That's 34% of all prosecuted cases. The median fine for a fatality conviction ($130,000) is exactly double the median for a non-critical injury ($65,000).

But prosecution itself is rare. Ontario recorded roughly 370 workplace fatalities over this period. Only 92 produced a conviction. That means roughly one in four workplace deaths leads to a visible prosecution. The rest are investigated, and most are closed without charges.

The Ontario Auditor General's 2019 workplace safety audit found that 48% of critical injuries go unreported to the Ministry entirely. The prosecution gap starts before charges are even considered.

## Construction and manufacturing pay 70% of the total

| Sector | Convictions | Median fine | Total fines |
|--------|----------:|----------:|----------:|
| Construction | 91 | $90,000 | $10.3M |
| Manufacturing | 96 | $75,000 | $9.1M |
| Mining | 12 | $120,000 | $1.9M |
| Forestry | 11 | $80,000 | $1.5M |
| Agriculture | 12 | $100,000 | $1.2M |
| Waste management | 11 | $85,000 | $1.1M |
| Warehousing | 5 | $140,000 | $745K |
| All others | 31 | n/a | $2.7M |

Construction (91 convictions, $10.3M) and manufacturing (96 convictions, $9.1M) together account for 70% of all prosecution volume and 66% of total fines. Mining has the highest median at $120,000, but with only 12 cases.

Hospitality appears just three times in the data. The sample is too small for meaningful statistics, but hospitality's low prosecution count doesn't mean low risk. The Ministry of Labour inspects restaurants, hotels, and bars under the same OHSA provisions. The Auditor General found that only 28% of Ontario businesses are in the Ministry's inspection system at all. If your sector has low prosecution volume, it may reflect low inspection coverage rather than low violation rates.

## Fines are rising every year

| Year | Convictions | Median fine | Total fines |
|------|----------:|----------:|----------:|
| 2018 | 24 | $80,000 | $2.0M |
| 2019 | 44 | $80,000 | $4.4M |
| 2020 | 29 | $97,000 | $3.2M |
| 2021 | 24 | $75,000 | $2.8M |
| 2022 | 36 | $90,000 | $3.9M |
| 2023 | 57 | $100,000 | $7.0M |
| 2024 | 44 | $75,000 | $4.6M |
| 2025 | 11 | $175,000 | $1.6M |

Total fines nearly quadrupled from $2.0M in 2018 to $7.0M in 2023. The 2025 numbers are partial (11 convictions through early 2025), but the median of $175,000 is the highest on record.

Three rule changes matter more than the 2025 median. Ontario raised the corporate maximum to $2 million in October 2023. It added a $500,000 minimum for repeat serious offences in November 2024. Then it gave inspectors AMP power in January 2026, letting them issue penalties up to $100,000 without going to court. The convictions in this report still come from the slower prosecution channel.

## Most inspectors issue zero fines

The Auditor General's 2019 audit of the Ministry of Labour found that 61% of inspectors issued zero fines during the audit period. Enforcement is concentrated among a small number of inspectors. The same audit found that only 28% of Ontario businesses were in the Ministry's active inspection system.

Most employers never see an inspector. The ones who do can face very different outcomes depending on who inspects and what they find.

## The GTA concentrates prosecution volume

Toronto, Brampton, Hamilton, and Concord lead the data in prosecution volume. The GTA's density of construction and manufacturing operations makes this predictable, but it also means the courts processing these cases have deep experience with OHSA sentencing. Hamilton's average fine across its cases exceeds $200,000.

## What a conviction costs after court

An OHSA fine doesn't stay at the number in the judgment. The surcharge lands immediately, then legal fees, premium increases, and shutdown costs keep adding to it.

**25% victim fine surcharge:** Added automatically to every conviction. An $80,000 fine becomes $100,000.

**WSIB premium increases:** Experience rating can raise premiums for years after a serious claim. A construction employer in the highest WSIB rate category ($3.52 per $100 of payroll) faces premium increases that can exceed the fine itself over a five-year period.

**Legal costs:** Defence counsel for an OHSA prosecution typically runs $50,000 to $150,000. The FMC/Norton Rose study of 863 OHSA prosecutions found that defendants who plead guilty and let the court set the fine pay roughly 40% less than those who accept the Ministry's proposed amount. But even a negotiated guilty plea involves legal fees.

**Operational disruption:** Ministry stop-work orders halt operations until violations are corrected. A construction site shutdown can cost $10,000 to $50,000 per day in lost productivity and contract penalties.

A single fatality at a construction company can produce total costs of $300,000 or more over five to six years when you combine the fine, surcharge, premium increase, legal fees, and lost productivity.

## Conviction odds

Court cases are rare, but once charges are laid the odds are against the employer. The FMC/Norton Rose study of 863 OHSA prosecutions found an 82% conviction rate, with two-thirds of corporations found guilty at trial.

## What changed in January 2026

The new AMP regime (O. Reg. 365/25) allows inspectors to issue penalties of up to $100,000 without prosecution. This changes the enforcement math. Previously, the only way to impose a financial penalty was through the courts, a process that takes months or years. AMPs can be issued during or shortly after an inspection.

The 269 convictions in this data represent the court-based enforcement channel. The AMP channel will add a second stream of penalties that operates faster and at lower cost to the Ministry. Employers now face two penalty tracks: court fines and inspector-issued AMPs. Both can apply to the same incident.

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Published by [Duty Room](https://dutyroom.com/ca/on/), software for organizing, tracking, and evidencing operational compliance.