ESA
As Ontario works to introduce the many initiatives that support the Green Energy Act, ESA has worked to maintain a high level of safety aligned with these initiatives, and wherever practical to enhance safety.
Web Site: www.esasafe.com
The Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) is the provincial authority delegated with the responsibility for public electrical safety on behalf of the provincial government. With the Vision of “An Ontario free of electrical fatalities, and serious injury, damage or loss”, ESA employees are dedicated to responding to high-risk electrical situations, and to identifying and preventing potential electrical concerns.
A multi-faceted electrical safety organization, ESA is responsible for a number of regulations that did not exist a decade ago. In addition to the Ontario Electrical Safety Code that provides the basis for safe electrical installations in the province, ESA has introduced and supports many others aspects of electrical safety with teams of dedicated professionals, including: contractor licensing, areas of worker safety, local distribution utility oversight and electrical product safety.
With a commitment to being an innovative safety regulator, ESA believes that the best way to respond to electrical harms and to reach our goal of “zero” electrical incidents is to be guided by three overarching themes:
- Being efficient by considering other regulatory bodies and their regulations to reduce areas of potential overlap.
- Seeking stakeholder cross-sectional industry solutions.
- Leveraging partnerships across the broader electrical safety system to have the greatest impact.
From our engagement with stakeholders we recognize the important contribution other safety influencers can make to impact safety direction and extend our safety efforts. As Ontario works to introduce the many initiatives that support the Green Energy Act, ESA has worked to maintain a high level of safety aligned with these initiatives, and wherever practical to enhance safety. Our employees are involved in field product approval of green technologies, inspection of new installations of renewable energy systems, and monitoring and responding to specific product safety issues. We are supporting the identification and implementation of vital safety components at the front-end to ensure that these important efforts to advance green energy in Ontario are not set back by public safety concerns or product issues.