Recently, Fiera Foods, an industrial bakery in Toronto, came
under fire for the third death of a worker at its factory since
1999. All three workers were temporary workers and killed in
workplace accidents, giving rise to questions of the quality of
training that such employees received.
A temporary worker is more likely to be injured on the job.
Research suggests that temps receive less training while also being
assigned riskier work. Last year, non-clerical temps suffered more
than twice as many injuries as non-temps doing similar work.
Dangerous working conditions are just one aspect of employment
that employment legislation addresses. The Employment Standards Act
is designed with the benefit of employees in mind through providing
protections for them in respect of their employment relationships.
However the legislation in Ontario fails to include some of the
most vulnerable individuals in the workforce. Temporary workers
fall outside the majority of the
