Radon in condos, apartments, schools and workplaces: common questions

Yes, Health Canada recommends it. No Canada-wide law requires radon testing in schools or child care.

Health Canada's public building guide covers schools, daycares, workplaces, hospitals, care facilities, correctional centres and multi-unit residential buildings such as apartments and condominiums. Testing in these buildings uses protocols that differ from testing a single home. The guide notes that radon risk builds with total exposure over time, so keeping levels low in schools and daycares lowers the children's lifetime lung cancer risk.

See how radon is tested in schools and day cares

Yes. Health Canada's public building guide covers multi-unit residential buildings and addresses measurements across several units or a whole building.

You can test your own unit using Health Canada's homes guide. Building-wide testing follows the public building guide.

The 2024 Cross-Canada Radon Survey found about 1 in 10 of the multifamily buildings it sampled at or above 200 Bq/m³. The survey notes that its sample of 1,089 results under-represents high-rise buildings of five or more floors.

See how radon testing works in rentals and condos

Yes. Health Canada's guideline covers public buildings and workplaces occupied more than four hours daily.

It excludes uranium mines, which the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission regulates. It also excludes industries handling naturally occurring radioactive materials, such as mining, oil and gas, and water treatment, which fall under the NORM Guidelines.

In federally regulated workplaces, the Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations set an annual average limit of 800 Bq/m³ until 30 January 2027, for employees other than nuclear energy workers. SOR/2026-10 then lowers it to 200 Bq/m³.

Provincial workplace laws most often rely on a general duty clause and do not name radon. Ontario applies the NORM Guidelines to all workplaces and tells employers to reduce radon below 200 Bq/m³.

See the radon rules for workplaces