What radon limits and duties apply to Canadian workplaces?

If you work in a federally regulated workplace, the Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations (COHSR) set a radon limit. Until 30 January 2027, the limit is a yearly average of 800 Bq/m³. On that date it drops to 200 Bq/m³, and meeting it becomes the employer’s duty. Provincial workplace laws most often do not name radon and rely on a general duty clause instead. See the workplace radon rules for each province and territory.

The federal limit drops to the Canadian guideline level on 30 January 2027

The change comes from SOR/2026-10. It was registered on 30 January 2026 and published in the Canada Gazette on 11 February 2026. The limit in COHSR section 10.26(4) covers employees other than nuclear energy workers.

Federally regulated workers

1.3

million employees

Employees covered by Part II of the Canada Labour Code, about 8% of the workforce, to whom the federal radon limit applies. It drops from 800 to 200 Bq/m³ on 30 January 2027.

Date

2026-02-11

Sample

Not applicable

Source

Canada Gazette, Part II, SOR/2026-10 (11 February 2026)

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The amendment also adds a radon limit to the oil and gas regulations and drops it from the on-board trains regulations. The government’s analysis says the old 800 Bq/m³ limit did not match Health Canada’s guideline. See where the 200 Bq/m³ figure comes from.

Provincial law mostly relies on the general duty clause, not a radon number

If you work in a provincially regulated workplace, your province’s workplace law has a general duty clause. Most of those laws do not name radon.

Ontario applies the Canadian Guidelines for the Management of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM) to all workplaces through its general duty clause. It tells employers to reduce radon below 200 Bq/m³ through engineering controls where possible. See what radon law requires outside the workplace.

Mines and a few workplaces have radon rules of their own

Yukon has workplace radon rules, and three other jurisdictions have radon rules for mines. The text of each regulation sets out what it requires.

• Yukon: Occupational Health Regulations
• New Brunswick: Underground Mine Regulation
• Ontario: R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 854 (mines), sections 288 to 293
• Northwest Territories: Mine Health and Safety Regulations

See how radon testing is handled in schools and public buildings.

British Columbia lists radon lung cancer by name as an occupational disease

British Columbia is the province Health Canada identifies as listing radon and lung cancer by name for workers’ compensation. Alberta, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador list diseases caused by ionizing radiation.

Ontario uranium miners struck at Elliot Lake in 1974 over lung cancer and silicosis, and the Royal Commission that followed shaped Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act. Read the history of radon and Canada’s uranium miners.