The Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) is a not-for-profit organization that the Government of Ontario has mandated to administer technical safety regulations and provide safety oversight of:
- Elevating devices such as elevators and escalators
- Amusement devices such as roller coasters and bouncy castles
- Ski Lifts such as chair lifts and T-bars
- Boilers and pressure vessels including piping
- Fuels such as natural gas, propane and liquid fuels - mainly their storage, distribution and utilization
- Operating Engineers including attended and unattended plants with pressurized equipment
We’re fortunate to live in a place where we can go about our day knowing the infrastructure around us is extremely safe: the escalator in the shopping mall, the gas pump we fill up at, the systems that heat our schools and hospitals, the ski lifts, the roller coasters. Thanks to the efforts of the many people who supply, service, own, operate and use these complex technologies, we do very well as a province in protecting each other from harm.
But in our view, extremely safe isn’t safe enough and it takes a coordinated effort to get there. As long as there is significant safety concern, we have a job to do: helping to set better standards, partnering with suppliers, owners and operators to equip them to be safe, and assertively addressing situations and enforcing compliance where there is a real risk or evidence of injury.
We all share the goal of a safer Ontario. We can only make that happen if we work together, in a safety partnership from which we all benefit.
Our purpose
To enhance safety in Ontario through engagement, evidence, enforcement and education.
Our vision
Working together for a safer Ontario today and tomorrow.
Our values
- Safety: Be safety-focused at all times
- Collaboration: Work well with others
- Accountability: Be responsible for our actions and deliver on our commitments
- Integrity: Conduct ourselves with transparency using risk-informed evidence
- Inclusion: Leverage diversity through inclusive, respectful leadership
- Innovation: Be forward-thinking, adaptable and data-driven
What we do
Our activities keep the people in Ontario safe from harm. We do this by:
- Administering provincial regulations
Issuing authorizations for equipment, sites, businesses and workers to maintain an accurate inventory of regulated entities
- Certifying individuals and registering contractors and operators so they can perform regulated work
- Overseeing that training institutions correctly train, examine and certify tradespeople
- Reviewing the design of new technologies, new installations, and changes to existing equipment and plants to make sure they comply with codes and regulations
- Analyzing data, watching for safety-related trends, evaluating risks and developing standards
- Performing inspections and incident investigations to prevent and address safety issues
- Providing education and consumer safety information
- Working with industry to reduce safety risks by performing assessments, and supporting compliance
- Carrying out enforcement and prosecution when illegal activity occurs
- Contributing to the development of safety codes and regulations for the industries we regulate
- Delivering pressure boundary system inspection and engineering services at nuclear facilities in Ontario
We also provide limited non-regulatory services to other organizations.
The Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement oversees our services and organizational performance and retains authority for the Technical Standards and Safety Act.
