In Canada, no province or territory has enacted a radon-specific exposure limit for workplaces equivalent to the new federal one, according to Health Canada's survey of provincial and territorial radon policies. That fact is often read as "radon isn't regulated provincially," and that reading is wrong. Every provincial and territorial occupational health and safety act imposes a general duty on employers to take reasonable precautions against recognized hazards — and Ontario publishes workplace radon guidance built on the NORM framework, directing that measurements be made where the annual average is expected to exceed 200 Bq/m³.
This guide sets out what actually applies where, what is real law versus guidance, and which claims about Canadian radon rules are commonly repeated but false.
TL;DR: Federally regulated workplaces get a hard 200 Bq/m³ annual-average limit on January 30, 2027. Provincially regulated workplaces have no radon number in law — but the general duty clause applies everywhere, Ontario publishes guidance directing measurement where annual averages are expected above 200 Bq/m³, and Health Canada's 200 Bq/m³ guideline is the benchmark every regulator uses. Two Canadian jurisdictions have moved to require radon testing in childcare: Yukon, which announced a phased-in licensing requirement, and the Interior Health region of British Columbia, which ordered its childcare facilities to test in 2017.
Named hazard versus recognized hazard
One distinction clarifies the whole picture. Federally, radon is now a named hazard: it appears in the regulation by name, with a number attached, and the employer "must ensure" the limit is not exceeded. Provincially, radon is a recognized hazard reached through the general duty, which covers recognized hazards without listing them.
Both create real obligations. They differ in how the obligation is established and in how stringent the language is. A federal employer can be measured against a number; a provincial employer is measured against what a reasonable employer would have done about a hazard it knew or ought to have known about. Health Canada's guideline supplies the number in both cases — but guidance recommends, and only the federal regulation requires.
The three layers that apply across Canada
- The general duty clause. Present in every provincial and territorial OHS statute in some form: employers must take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances to protect workers. It does not name radon, and does not need to — it attaches to recognized hazards, and radon is classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a Group 1 carcinogen.
- Health Canada's guideline. 200 Bq/m³ as an annual average in normal occupancy areas, applying to all indoor spaces including workplaces. Guidance rather than law, but it is the number used by regulators, inspectors and expert witnesses nationally — and the number the federal government has now written into its own occupational regulation.
- NORM guidelines. The Canadian Guidelines for the Management of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials classify workplace radon exposure: below 200 Bq/m³ unrestricted; 200–800 requires NORM management; above 800 requires radiation protection management.
Province by province
| Jurisdiction | What applies to workplaces |
|---|---|
| Federal (Canada Labour Code Part II) | Binding limit of 200 Bq/m³ annual average from January 30, 2027 (SOR/2026-10). The only radon exposure limit written into Canadian occupational health and safety regulation outside the nuclear sector. |
| Ontario | The Occupational Health and Safety Act's general duty applies. Ontario publishes dedicated workplace radon guidance built on the NORM framework: an area is "unrestricted" at 200 Bq/m³ or less; 200–800 Bq/m³ is "NORM Management"; and the province states that where the annual average is expected to exceed 200 Bq/m³, measurements should be made to estimate the annual average. Ontario also sets a separate ceiling for occupationally exposed workers — an annual average that should not exceed 3,000 Bq/m³, corresponding to an effective dose of 20 mSv. Radon is not listed under the designated substances regulation. |
| British Columbia | The Occupational Health and Safety Regulation contains general duty provisions on avoiding risk of occupational disease, plus detailed ionizing radiation provisions (ss. 7.17–7.25). Keeping a workplace below 200 Bq/m³ approximates those standards. Interior Health ordered childcare facilities in its region to test for radon in 2017, using the medical health officer's power under the Community Care and Assisted Living Act to attach conditions to a licence. |
| Alberta | General duty under the OHS Act; the province publishes an OHS bulletin on radon in the workplace. Important correction to a widely repeated claim: the Radon Awareness and Testing Act (SA 2017, c R-2.5) received royal assent in December 2017 but was never proclaimed into force and lapsed in 2023. Alberta has no radon-specific testing requirement, for childcare or otherwise. |
| Quebec | CNESST regime. Employers carry prevention-program obligations covering identification and correction of risks in the establishment. See our Quebec employer guide. |
| Yukon | In 2017 Yukon announced it would make radon testing and mitigation a licensing requirement for child care centres and family day homes, to be phased in — the first Canadian jurisdiction to move in this direction. Health Canada's survey of provincial and territorial policies lists Yukon among jurisdictions addressing radon in childcare. Operators should confirm current licensing requirements with Yukon Health and Social Services. General OHS duty applies to workplaces generally. |
| Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI, Newfoundland and Labrador, NWT, Nunavut | General duty clauses in each jurisdiction's OHS legislation. No radon-specific workplace exposure limit. Several publish public-health radon guidance referencing the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. |
If your organization is federally regulated, none of the above is the operative rule for you — see which rules apply to your workplace.
What the general duty means in practice
General duty provisions are enforced after the fact. No inspector arrives to check radon levels in a provincially regulated office. What happens instead follows a predictable sequence:
- A worker, a joint health and safety committee, or a union representative raises radon — often after news coverage, a home test, or a neighbouring employer testing.
- The hazard is now identified and documented. The employer knows.
- What the employer does next is the entire question. Measuring, recording the result and acting on it discharges the duty. Not measuring, having been asked, is the fact pattern general duty provisions exist to catch.
Radon is unusual among workplace hazards in how cheap the answer is relative to the exposure. Measurement is passive, costs a fraction of most industrial hygiene assessments, and in most buildings comes back below the guideline — which is itself a documented answer.
How enforcement actually begins
For federally regulated workplaces, the Labour Program has authority to inspect and audit, issue compliance orders, and levy administrative monetary penalties. But inspections are rarely spontaneous. The more common trigger is a worker complaint — and workers are not required to raise the matter with their employer first. A complaint can go directly to the Labour Program, can prompt an inspection, and can become part of the public record.
For provincially regulated workplaces the mechanism differs by jurisdiction, but the pattern is the same: the hazard becomes visible to the regulator when someone inside the workplace raises it. That is why the general duty clause has practical force even without a radon-specific number attached to it.
Worker-side guide, free to circulate: radon at work — for workers and health and safety committees.
Three claims that are wrong
"Alberta requires childcare centres to test for radon."
No. The Act that would have required it passed in 2017 but was never proclaimed and lapsed in 2023. It is still cited as current by commercial pages and older articles. Alberta has no radon testing requirement in force.
"There's no law about radon at work in my province, so we have no obligation."
The absence of a radon-specific number is not the absence of a duty. The general duty clause covers recognized hazards without listing them, and Ontario's published guidance directs measurement where levels are expected to exceed 200 Bq/m³.
"The new federal limit applies to all Canadian employers."
It applies to federally regulated employers only — roughly 8% of the workforce. It is, however, the benchmark provincial regulators and adjudicators are most likely to reference when deciding what a reasonable precaution looks like.
Where this is heading
The federal government has now aligned its own workplaces with the guideline it has published since 2007. Provincial change historically follows that pattern rather than leading it, and the pressure points are visible: childcare licensing (already mandatory in Yukon and Interior Health), school board policy, and worker-side campaigns through health and safety committees. Employers who measure during the 2026–27 heating season will have a documented position before any of that arrives.
RadonTest.ca provides testing logistics and laboratory submission. We do not perform radon mitigation and we do not interpret health risk — Health Canada is the health authority on radon in Canada. This page describes publicly available regulatory information and is not legal advice.
Operative wording, section by section: the workplace radon legal brief.
The industries with the most radon-exposed workers are largely provincially regulated: 603,000 exposed workers, and who the federal limit reaches.
Read next
Which rules apply to your workplace · The legal brief · Guide for workers and committees · How commercial testing works
Sources
Health Canada, Radon action guide for provinces and territories: Policies for specific locations; Canada Gazette, Part II, Vol. 160, No. 3 (SOR/2026-10); Government of Ontario, Radon in the workplace; Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, Radon in Buildings; Radon Awareness and Testing Act, SA 2017, c R-2.5 (never proclaimed); Community Care and Assisted Living Act, S.B.C. 2002, c. 75; Health Canada, Canadian radon guideline; Canadian Guidelines for the Management of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials.