Scientific Reports

Faculty Perspectives on Occupational Health and Safety Training in Skilled Trades Education Current Landscape, Gaps, Barriers, and Recommendations

Abstract / Description

Background and Objective

Canada is facing a significant shortage of skilled trades workers, with over 700,000 expected to retire by 2028. Ontario alone will need more than 100,000 skilled trades workers within the next decade. This shortage impacts various sectors, including construction, service, and manufacturing, limiting Canada’s capacity to develop and maintain essential infrastructure and services. Work-related injuries are a major contributor to early retirement and the skills shortages, and skilled workers work in some of the highest risk-sector for workplace injuries. Not only do high rates of disability facilitate early retirement, but they also deter potential candidates from pursuing a career in the skilled trades.

Occupational health and safety (OHS) training is a critical component to injury prevention. However, knowledge and documentation of what OHS is taught and how OHS is integrated into Ontario’s career technical education system are limited. This research explores instructors’ and program coordinators’ perspectives on 1) the OHS topics and content taught in skilled trades-related training programs and 2) delivery strategies for teaching OHS.

Methods

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informants within skilled trades education (i.e., program coordinators, professors, and instructors). Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis.

Key Findings

The Skilled Trades Ontario Curriculum Training Standards (STO-CTS) dictate the OHS topics taught in a program. They are the primary documents used in program development and review. They set program requirements and learning outcomes of apprenticeship programs, including their OHS components. The STO-CTS specify the time allotted for each unit within a program and are said to be regimented documents. Thus, the sufficient inclusion of OHS contents in the STO-CTS is paramount. Program review and development also considers input from instructors and industry partners (via program advisory committees). The valuable insights from instructors and industry partners help ensure the program offers relevant industry standards and best practices beyond the STO-CTS. However, OHS was rarely discussed proactively.

OHS content within a skilled trades program typically aims to provide students with a general awareness of the common hazards within the trade, OHS-related laws (i.e., OHS acts and regulations, worker and employer rights and responsibilities), safe work practices, the realities of the workplace, and where to get OHS-related information. When asked if any OHS-related content should be added or enhanced in their program, key informants within the industrial, construction, and motive power sectors agreed that their programs covered all the necessary OHS topics except for mental health and wellness. On the contrary, key informants from service-related trades shared that much of the OHS-related content focuses on client safety (i.e., food safety, smart serve, and event emergency preparedness) instead of worker safety. Despite covering the essential OHS topics, key informants recommended enhancing the contents related to WHMIS, Working at Heights, and Ergonomics.

When asked how OHS was taught throughout the programs, key informants shared that most of the foundational content was taught during the first in-school semester (i.e., Level 1 of the apprenticeship program). OHS is first taught as a standalone course, in a unit within a course, or when introducing new materials, tools, equipment, or work processes. OHS content is then reviewed, repeated, reinforced, and built upon throughout the program.

Motivating students to take OHS seriously before an incident was a significant challenge. Key informants suggested that students often perceive OHS as irrelevant to their personal experience, considering themselves invulnerable or believing that ‘that would never happen to me.’ They discussed various OHS delivery methods while emphasizing that no single approach is universally effective in engaging students with OHS. Effective OHS delivery strategies that are currently used include engaging students with trade-specific examples, incorporating OHS into assessments, using interactive learning activities, providing experiential learning opportunities, and consistent reinforcement of safe work practices. Findings from this research will inform future strategies for enhancing OHS training in skilled trade training delivery agents.

Recommendations

Update the STO-CTS to include the identified OHS content gaps (i.e., ergonomics and mental health).

Increase and explicitly state the time that should be allotted to teaching OHS in the STO-CTS.

Create and develop more trade-specific OHS resources.

ACCESSIBLE SKILLED TRADES: INCLUSIVE AND ACCESSIBLE SKILLED TRADES EMPLOYMENT FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Introduction Skilled trades are fundamental to the functioning and growth of Canada’s economy. Workers in trades occupations build infrastructure, maintain essential services, and support industries ranging from construction and manufacturing to transportation and service sec tors. The skilled trades may represent a promising pathway toward equitable employment outcomes for persons with disabilities. Skilled trades careers can provide stable employment, strong earnings potential, and opportunities for advancement. Despite this potential, persons with disabilities remain underrepresented in skilled trades occupations. Research across sectors has documented discrimination in hiring practices, limited opportunities for advancement, and insufficient knowledge among employers regarding disability accommodation. Individuals with disabilities frequently report encountering stigma, aesthetic bias, and skepticism about their productivity or qualifications. In skilled trades environments, these barriers are often amplified by the nature of work tasks and workplace cultures. Trades workplaces often prioritize physical performance, technical skill, and productivity, which can shape assumptions about workers’ abilities and influence access to opportunities. This report addresses knowledge gaps by examining accessibility in skilled trades from multiple complementary perspectives: workers, employers, and previous scientific studies. The projects presented in this report explore employer readiness to accommodate workers with disabilities, the availability of assistive devices, technologies and workplace support solutions, and the lived experiences of persons with disabilities navigating skilled trades employment pathways. Studies contained in this report employ complementary mixed-methods, including phenomenological interviewing, surveys, scoping reviews and environmental scans. Collectively, these findings have direct implications for the development of accessibility standards that reflect the operational, cultural, and safety realities of skilled trades environments. Summary of Findings The research in this report converges on a clear message: persons with disabilities are a significant, underutilized talent pool for Canada’s skilled trades, yet face layered structural, cultural, training, and equipment barriers. Practical, scalable solutions, particularly in training design, PPE and procurement, accommodation pathways, and employer readiness, can meaningfully improve sector entry, safety, and retention. Participation & Risk Persons with disabilities represent about 20% of apprenticeship populations, but remain underrepresented in the broader trades workforce and advancement pathways, across a variety of sources. Apprentices with disabilities reported lower occupational health and safety knowledge, higher likelihood of severe injury, and more chronic and short-term pain, suggesting a preventable gap in training efficacy and workplace controls. Structural & Cultural Barriers Structural obstacles, such as administrative complexity, inconsistent accommodation processes, and certification challenges, limit both access and progression within trades. Cultural dynamics, especially stigma, “old boys’ club” norms, and misconceptions about visible and nonvisible disabilities, shape whether workers disclose, request support, or remain in skilled trades careers. Although participants bring strengths (e.g., problem solving, hyperfocus), deficit-based assumptions often over-shadowed these assets. Disclosure is strategic: workers weigh safety, trust, and anticipated stigma, highlighting the need for transparent, psychologically safe pathways to share their disability. Training & Learning Preferences Hands-on learning was broadly preferred. Apprentices with disabilities consistently recommend accommodations across three themes: learning style, resources, and physical accommodations. PPE Design PPE issues cluster around fit, function, comfort, and sensory load. Poorly designed or ill-fitting PPE can compound disability-related needs and create compatibility conflicts with assistive devices. Employer Readiness & Accommodations Many companies reported being insufficiently prepared to accommodate several impairment types; readiness was lowest for vision and mobility impairments. Construction firms were less prepared than other sectors to accommodate mobility and hearing impairments. Company size matters. Larger organizations showed greater preparedness for mobility and learning-related accommodations, suggesting a resource and capacity gradient. Assistive Technologies & Workplace Solutions Evidence scans show a disproportionate focus on physical impairments, with limited solutions for vision, hearing, and cognitive, needs, where many employers felt least prepared Employers’ awareness and integration of assistive technologies into disability management remain uneven; alignment between solutions and trade-specific tasks or functional demands is critical for adoption and impact. Implications and Next Steps Across all recommendations, a consistent theme emerges: without trade-specific standards, implementation becomes discretionary, inconsistent, and vulnerable to dilution. Employers may struggle to interpret their obligations, workers may experience uneven access to supports, and accountability mechanisms may remain weak. Therefore, trade specific standardization is not merely desirable; it is essential to achieving the objectives of accessibility legislation and ensuring that standards result in real, measurable change in skilled trades workplaces. Conclusions These findings underscore an urgent need to move beyond generalized approaches to accessibility and toward standards that reflect the unique cultures, tasks, and safety realities of skilled trades work. Persistent cultural exclusion, inconsistent employment practices, complex disclosure dynamics, and uneven accommodation access reveal systems that remain misaligned with the lived experiences of workers with disabilities. By applying these findings to standards, Accessibility Standards Canada has a critical opportunity to lead this shift by advancing trade-specific accessibility standards that translate high-level principles into actionable, practical guidance. Without such specificity, implementation risks being fragmented and ineffective. With it, Canada can meaningfully expand equitable participation in the skilled trades, strengthen workforce resilience, and build inclusive trades systems capable of meeting the country’s future social and economic needs. View French Publication

Scientific Reports 2025

The Level of Perceived Occupational Health and Safety Knowledge in Skilled Trades Apprentices: Impact, Influencing factors, and Learning Preferences

Introduction Canada’s skilled trades shortage has negatively impacted organizations and consumers and has cost billions of dollars from healthcare expenditure and productivity loss. This issue is compounded by the high risk of disabling injury to workers in the skilled trades, particularly apprentices. While occupational health and safety (OHS) training may improve health and safety outcomes in theory, we must emphasize the appropriate delivery of OHS content to better suit skilled trades apprentices. It may be possible to maximize the impact of OHS training by first understanding how apprentices perceive their current training. The findings presented in this study improves on the current understanding of the potential links between a skilled trades apprentice’s perceptions and preferences of their OHS training, and their injury outcomes. Through effective delivery of OHS training, including considerations of apprentice preferences, we may be able to maximize the retention of health and safety information and contribute towards the development of a safer workforce. Objectives We aim to explore the relationships between a skilled trades apprentice's perception of their OHS knowledge and their self-reported physical and cognitive demands. This report also aims to explore the relationship between a skilled trades apprentice's self-reported functional limitations and their knowledge acquisition. Finally, we seek a better understanding of an apprentice’s preferred delivery method when learning about OHS. Key Findings An apprentice with a lower self-perception of their OHS knowledge was also more likely to report a negative OHS outcome. Inexperienced apprentices that have a lower self perceived knowledge in their OHS training were also more likely to report that they had sustained an injury over a 12-month period. There were also relationships between an apprentice’s self-perceived knowledge of health and safety, and the self-reporting of feeling burned out and overwhelmed. The program release type, age, and level of an apprentice influenced their perceived OHS confidence and subsequent relationship with injury and pain self reporting. Day release apprentices were 1.5 times more likely to self-report an injury, while younger apprentices perceived themselves as more confident than older apprentices but were twice as likely to self-report an injury. Older apprentices, while less likely to self-report an injury, were 1.24 times more likely to report non-injury related body pain. There was a greater self-reporting of cognitive functional limitations compared to physical functional limitations (e.g. walking). While apprentices with these functional limitations overall perceived that they were unaffected by them, trends indicated that these apprentices perceived themselves as less likely to be able to manage their own safety, and the safety of their coworkers. This may indicate that apprentices with functional limitations may not be fully aware of the underlying impacts of their functional limitations on their work ability, including their ability to implement their OHS training. Hands-on training was overwhelmingly preferred by apprentices as a means of improving the retention of information and improving the situational awareness that would otherwise be underdeveloped through traditional classroom lectures. A combination of receiving foundational OHS training through their apprenticeship training and workplace specific OHS training from the employer may improve an apprentice’s ability to identify and manage OHS hazards. Practical Implications We may be able to improve an apprentice’s OSH outcomes by improving their confidence in their OSH training. However, a confident apprentice is not necessarily a safe apprentice, as that confidence must be proportional to their OHS knowledge. Apprentices will benefit from receiving hands-on OHS training that is directly aligned with the most relevant workplace hazards. This requires that the apprentice receive not only foundational OHS knowledge in the classroom, but also more specific, situationally relevant training from their employer. If implemented correctly, OHS training may facilitate a reduction in workplace injuries and MSD development through the application of well-retained and relevant OHS knowledge.

Scientific Reports 2025

Landscape of Experiential Learning Technologies for Teaching Occupational Health and Safety in Skilled Trades

Background and Objective Injuries and illnesses among skilled trades professions accounted for over 25% of all workers’ compensation claims in Ontario between 2015 and 2020. Ensuring that skilled trade professionals are equipped with the relevant occupational safety and health (OSH) knowledge, skills, and abilities is critical in mitigating occupational risks and reducing injuries. Low engagement during OSH training has been the primary reason for low retention of OSH-related knowledge; thus, skilled trade professionals and trainees must receive effective and engaging OSH training to ensure that the knowledge is learned, retained, and applied. Experiential learning technologies (ELTs) (e.g., immersive virtual reality (VR) experiences, simulators, and interactive and serious games) can increase engagement, and knowledge and skills retention when compared to traditional classroom PowerPoint lectures. Given that ELTs may be a powerful tool for teaching OSH, we aim to build an ELT toolbox to support OSH training in the skilled trades. As a first step in developing an ELT toolbox, we conducted an environmental scan to better understand the existing OSH-related ELTs that are commercially available for trainees and professionals working in the skilled trades. Methods A systematic web-based search was performed to obtain existing commercially available OSH-related ELTs for the skilled trades; snowballing technique was applied to identify additional results. Key information was extracted from each relevant ELT, including the description of the ELT and its intended occupation, the tasks performed in the ELT, and the OSH topics taught. Software developers who only offered customized ELT solutions were also documented. Key Findings ➢ 288 off-the-shelf OSH-related ELTs for skilled trade occupations were identified. Over 50 complimentary ELTs (nearly 20%) can be delivered via highly accessible platforms such as desktops or smartphones. ➢ 85 unique off-the-shelf ELT developers/distributors were identified. 65% of the off-the-shelf ELT developers’/distributors’ headquarters were in the USA; 11% were in Canada. More ELTs need to be developed in Canada or have options to be customized to Canadian safety laws and regulations. ➢ 10 different types of delivery mechanisms for OSH-related ELTs emerged. Most of the ELTs are delivered through VR headsets, meaning that, if trainees have access to a VR headset, they can access a vast library of OSH-related ELTs. ➢ 96 unique topic areas were identified. Thirteen topics were relevant to general skilled trades, 3 were relevant to the service sector, 3 for the automotive sector, 32 for the industrial sector, and 45 for the construction sector. Many of the ELTs identified were relevant to acute injury prevention while few focused on the chronic and long-term consequences of hazardous exposures. ELTs designed for trade-specific occupations (n=192) often focused on the safe work processes and practices of a given task (e.g., painting, welding, machine operations, gas leak inspection) with the integration of OSH concepts. ➢ 42 software developers who only offered customized ELT solutions were identified.