Human Resources Legislative Update
Ontario Introduces Firefighter Certification Standards
Date: April 18, 2022
On April 14, 2022, the Ontario government filed O. Reg. 343/22: Firefighter Certification, under the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997. The regulation comes into force on July 1, 2022.
The regulation sets out the mandatory minimum certification standards and corresponding job performance requirements of firefighters delivering specific fire protection services, together with a compliance deadline (a four or six-year timeline depending on the fire protection service). Certain firefighters are exempt from these certification standards based on their prior knowledge, training and skills.
Some changes were made since the proposed regulation was published for input on January 28, 2022. (For information about the proposed regulation, please see our Human Resources Legislative Update of February 4, 2022, Ontario Seeking Input on Proposed Firefighter Certification Standards.)
These changes include:
- In the proposed regulation, exceptions were proposed for firefighters, in limited instances, who have been a firefighter for no more than 24 months and are operating under the supervision of a certified firefighter. The filed regulation has revised these exceptions to include firefighters who have been a firefighter for no more than 36 months;
- The certification standards regarding Pump Operations (items 17 and 18 of Table 1) will not apply with respect to firefighters who performed Pump Operations prior to the day this regulation comes into force; and
- If a firefighter was granted a letter of compliance with a certification standard by the Fire Marshal prior to this regulation coming into force, the letter of compliance continues to be valid.
As noted in our previous post, the government has stated this regulation does not change or add any new regulatory requirements for fire departments that are already training and certifying to full NFPA standards.
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