Who We Are
The role of the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) is to enhance public electrical safety in Ontario.
We are responsible for administering specific regulations related to the Ontario Electrical Safety Code (OESC), licensing Electrical Contractors and Master Electricians, electricity distribution system safety, and electrical products safety. ESA also works extensively with stakeholders throughout the province to educate, train, promote, and foster electrical safety.
Our work is led by a five-year strategy that defines areas of priority focus and corporate competencies required to respond most effectively to our mandate.
ESA is a financially self-sustaining, not-for-profit corporation that operates as an Administrative Authority under the Electricity Act, 1998, and has an Administrative Agreement with the Ministry of Consumer Services.
ESA evolved from Ontario Hydro's Electrical Inspection Division in 1999 to assume a broad mandate for public electrical safety in Ontario. Since that time, ESA has maintained the importance of electrical inspection, while responding to emerging safety concerns associated with Ontario's changing electricity environment.
Dedicated to gaining better insight into electrical incidents, ESA has focused on gathering and allocating resources to the production of the sole report on the state of electrical safety produced in Canada. The compilation of incident data from a number of sources, combined with insights from root cause analysis, has allowed ESA to identify those areas that are most harmful to Ontarians. This knowledge led to the introduction in 2010 of ESA's Harm Reduction Strategy and our longer-term vision of creating "an Ontario free of electrical fatalities and serious injury, damage, or loss."
ESA staff operate under a code of conduct.
Electrical Safety Authority Code of Conduct
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