Quebec Law 27 · Loi 27
Quebec's Loi 27 (Quebec Law 27) asks every employer to have, for each establishment, a prevention program or action plan that identifies psychosocial risks, sets measures against them and is updated every year. This page sets out the law in one screen, what it means for HR leaders and managers, and how OHA's Capacity Diagnostic measures the workload part.
This page is information, not legal advice. For the law itself, go to CNESST or LégisQuébec.
Bill 59, the Act to modernize the occupational health and safety regime (2021, chapter 27), is widely called Loi 27. It amended the Act respecting occupational health and safety (LSST), whose articles 58 to 61.2 now set the prevention program and the action plan. The law in one screen, as the sources read on 27 October 2026:
Every employer, for each establishment. A prevention program where the establishment groups at least 20 workers during the year; an action plan where no program is required.
LSST, arts. 58 and 61.1
To eliminate at the source the dangers to the health, safety and physical and psychological integrity of workers.
LSST, arts. 59 and 61.2
The program identifies the risks that can affect workers' health, including chemical, biological, physical, ergonomic and psychosocial risks linked to work.
LSST, art. 59
Measures and priorities to eliminate each identified risk or, failing that, to control it, favouring the hierarchy of prevention measures set by regulation, with timelines.
LSST, art. 59
One year from the moment the employer becomes subject to the obligation to draw up and apply the program or plan. The regulation that sets this delay came into force on 1 October 2025.
Regulation on prevention and participation mechanisms in establishments, art. 4; CNESST release of 1 October 2025
The employer updates the program or plan every year.
Regulation, art. 5
From the day the program is applied, the employer sends CNESST its action priorities, the progress of the planned measures and the follow-up of those in place.
LSST, art. 60; CNESST program page
The policy to prevent and handle psychological harassment is an integral part of the program or plan.
Act respecting labour standards, art. 81.19
Read on 27 October 2026. Articles and dates are quoted from the sources listed at the bottom of this page.
The law asks for identification first and action second: name the psychosocial risks in each establishment, then set measures and timelines against them. For a manager, those risks are concrete. CNESST names decision latitude, workload, organizational justice, recognition at work, support at work and different forms of violence.
OHA's baseline reads workload alongside capacity and retention risk. CNESST defines workload as the quantity and complexity of the tasks to be done in a given context, and says it becomes a risk when the demands are heavy and the resources, such as staff or time, are lacking.
The aim written into the law is to eliminate dangers at the source. INSPQ, Quebec's public health institute, publishes a grid for identifying psychosocial risks at work in which workload is one of the indicators, and notes that certain dimensions of how work is organized harm health. Naming a risk is the start; the measures are what a manager has to carry.
OHA's method starts from the Five Loads: decisional, cognitive, emotional, relational and administrative. The Capacity Diagnostic measures them across the managers or employees you choose, names the load that dominates and sets a day-one baseline in three to four weeks.
The 90-day Capacity Circle™ then acts on that load. At day 90, OHA runs the same measurement again and compares it with your own baseline, and your leadership gets a debrief on what moved and what did not. The cycle restarts at the new baseline.
That gives you two measurements of the same thing, taken 90 days apart, to set beside your own follow-up of the risks you have identified. The Five Loads sit beside the factors CNESST and INSPQ name, not in place of them, and OHA's work complements your health and safety advisers and your legal counsel.
Two measurements, 90 days apart
The Capacity Diagnostic reads the Five Loads and sets your baseline.
The Capacity Circle™ works on the load that dominates, with the managers in the cohort.
The same measurement, compared with your own baseline, and a debrief on what moved and what did not.
The duty sits with the establishment. Article 58 asks for a prevention program specific to each establishment that groups at least 20 workers during the year, and article 61.1 an action plan specific to each establishment where no program is required. A head office in Ontario with a site in Quebec has to look at that site on its own. An employer with several establishments where the activities are of the same nature may draw up one program for some or all of them (art. 58.1).
OHA is based in Toronto, and a first conversation can run in English or French.
Bill 59, the Act to modernize the occupational health and safety regime (2021, chapter 27), is widely called Loi 27. It amended the Act respecting occupational health and safety (LSST), including the articles on the prevention program and the action plan.
For each establishment, a prevention program (20 or more workers during the year) or an action plan (otherwise). It identifies the risks to workers' health, including psychosocial risks linked to work, sets measures and priorities with timelines, and is updated every year (LSST arts. 58, 59, 61.1 and 61.2; regulation art. 5).
The regulation gives an employer one year from the moment it becomes subject to the obligation to draw up and apply a program or plan, and it came into force on 1 October 2025. An employer that moves from an action plan to a program has the one-year delay only if it keeps its plan in place until the program is applied. Check your own dates with CNESST or your counsel.
Yes. The Act respecting labour standards says the policy to prevent and handle psychological harassment is an integral part of the program or plan (art. 81.19). The policy must, among other things, cover information and training for employees and for the people who handle complaints, and keep records for at least two years.
The program and the plan are specific to each establishment, so the Quebec site is looked at on its own (LSST arts. 58 and 61.1). Employers in a federally regulated industry or workplace have federal requirements to prevent harassment and violence (ESDC), so check with counsel which regime covers each workplace.
