Asbestos In The Workplace – The Landlord’s Or The Tenant’s Problem?

A draft regulation to impose on Québec employers a duty to take additional measures with respect to the potential presence of asbestos in facilities where their employees work was published in the Gazette officielle du Québec of December 27, 2012, and may come into force in the Spring.

The Regulation respecting occupational health and safety (the « ROHS ») would be amended so as to oblige employers to inspect certain buildings in order to locate and, if need be, repair the heat insulating material and flocking present in those structures. At the present time, the ROHS provides for air quality standards for workplaces, including standards governing the concentration of respirable asbestos fibres, as well as an obligation to minimize the exposure of workers to asbestos; but it does not specifically provide for an obligation to search for and maintain asbestos-containing materials. Consequently, the practices of employers and building owners with respect to the