The legal answer vs the practical answer

Strictly speaking, OHSA and Regulation 213/91 don’t name “site supervisor” as a role that must hold first aid certification. The closest the regulations come is the competent person standard under OHSA — a worker is competent if qualified by knowledge, training, and experience, familiar with applicable OHSA provisions, and aware of potential or actual workplace dangers. This standard applies to supervisors directing the work of others. First aid training isn’t named as a specific competent person requirement.

The practical answer is different. Reg 1101 requires every workplace to have at least one qualified first aider per shift. On construction projects, the supervisor or foreman is the most reliably present worker every day — crew members come and go, but the supervisor is constant. So in practice, supervisors are almost always trained in Standard First Aid + CPR because they’re the only worker who’s guaranteed to be on site every shift.

Combine that with IHSA-aligned company safety programs that treat supervisor first aid certification as a standard requirement, and you get an industry norm where every construction supervisor and foreman in Ontario is trained — even though no specific regulation names them by title.

The competent person standard, in detail

OHSA Section 1(1) defines “competent person” as a person who:

• Is qualified because of knowledge, training, and experience to organize the work and its performance
• Is familiar with the provisions of OHSA and the regulations that apply to the work
• Has knowledge of any potential or actual danger to health or safety in the workplace

On construction projects, the competent person framework applies to anyone supervising or directing work. The Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development interprets this broadly — supervisors, foremen, lead hands, and senior trades all fall under the competent person definition for the work they oversee.

While first aid certification isn’t an explicit element of the competent person definition, the “knowledge of potential or actual danger to health or safety” piece is hard to satisfy in construction without practical understanding of how to respond when those dangers materialize. That’s the implicit logic behind universal supervisor first aid training.

What course do supervisors actually need?

Most Ontario construction operators standardize on Standard First Aid + CPR for all supervisors regardless of crew size — partly because crew size on construction varies day-to-day, and partly because the broader Standard First Aid curriculum covers more of the scenarios construction supervisors actually encounter (fractures, head injuries, crush injuries, eye injuries, burns from welding).

Additional training supervisors typically need

Beyond first aid, Ontario construction supervisors typically hold a combination of:

• Working at Heights — mandatory under O. Reg. 297/13 for many construction workers, including supervisors of work at heights
• JHSC Certification Part 1 and Part 2 — for supervisors serving on the project’s Joint Health and Safety Committee (required on 20+ worker projects)
• WHMIS — for any worker who may be exposed to hazardous products on site
• Trade-specific qualifications — depending on the work being supervised
• Confined space entry training — for supervisors of confined space work
• Designated Substances awareness — for projects involving asbestos, lead, silica, etc.

This guide focuses on first aid; the other certifications are mentioned because they’re commonly part of a supervisor’s training stack.

Multi-site supervisor coverage

Construction supervisors often roam between multiple active sites — checking in at one project in the morning, another at lunch, a third in the afternoon. Reg 1101 requires a first aider physically present on the shift. A supervisor who’s at the project on Tuesday morning doesn’t satisfy the requirement for a site they’re not at Tuesday afternoon.

The practical implications:

• Each active site needs its own designated first aider, not just the roaming supervisor
• Most GCs train a foreman or lead hand at each site who provides reliable per-site coverage
• The roaming supervisor’s certification is still valuable as backup and as compliance support during the hours they’re on each site
• For sole-supervisor operations running one site at a time, the supervisor’s certification can be the primary site coverage — but absence (sick day, vacation, supervisor running an errand) creates a compliance gap

What happens when the supervisor is absent

Reg 1101 doesn’t have a grace period for vacancies. If the only certified first aider on a shift is absent — sick, on vacation, off-site for a meeting — the site is technically out of compliance for that shift.

How most operators handle this:

• Train at least 2 certified workers per shift — the supervisor plus a foreman, or two foremen on larger crews
• Build redundancy across the project — even if the supervisor is the primary first aider, having a certified lead hand at the same site means the site stays covered when the supervisor steps away
• Document the coverage plan — written designation of who is the first aider on each shift, posted on Form 82 with current certificates
• Have a temporary plan for unexpected absences — typically reassigning a senior trades worker who’s also certified, or pulling a foreman from another site if available

What supervisors learn in Standard First Aid + CPR that matters most on construction

The Standard First Aid curriculum covers a broad range of scenarios. For construction supervisors specifically, the most operationally relevant content includes:

• Bleeding control and wound care — direct pressure, packing, tourniquet basics for severe extremity bleeding
• Head injuries — recognition of concussion vs more serious traumatic brain injury, when to keep someone still vs encourage movement
• Spine injury immobilization — when a fall from height might have involved spinal injury, basic principles for keeping the casualty still until paramedics arrive
• Fracture management — splinting principles, when to immobilize and when to allow movement
• Burns — assessing degree of burn, cooling protocols, when to call EMS
• Eye injuries — flushing protocols, the importance of not removing foreign objects, when to bandage and transport
• CPR and AED use — for sudden cardiac events or electrical incidents leading to cardiac arrhythmia
• Choking response — relevant for break-time eating and the occasional incident
• Heat illness and cold exposure — for outdoor construction in summer or winter
• Casualty management — keeping a casualty stable, monitoring vitals, handoff to paramedics

Onboarding new supervisors

Most Ontario construction firms make first aid certification a condition of hiring or promotion into a supervisor role. The typical approach:

1. Confirm certification at hire — request a copy of the current Standard First Aid + CPR card
2. If not currently certified, book the course within 30 days of hire — either send to a public open class or batch with other new supervisors for an on-site session
3. Set a calendar reminder for the 3-year recertification cycle — typically tracked centrally by HR or the safety coordinator
4. Renew before expiry — see our timing guide

The case for over-training

Reg 1101 sets the floor: one certified first aider per shift. The case for training every supervisor, foreman, and lead hand goes beyond compliance:

• Redundancy — when the designated first aider is absent, someone else is trained
• Faster response — the first responder is whoever is closest, not whoever is officially designated
• Better decisions — supervisors who understand first aid make better calls about whether to keep someone working or send them home
• Insurance and liability considerations — well-documented safety culture supports better outcomes if an incident occurs
• Bid competitiveness — many GCs and public-sector procurement processes look for demonstrated safety culture, including training
• Worker retention — workers who feel their employer takes safety seriously stay longer