Unified Standards for Ontario?

Much has been talked about the CSA Standards of Practice.

Please see the posting on the OntarioACHI message board here where you can supply suggestions or comments on the information given, or if you just want to see the CSA presentation go directly to the posting on the OntarioACHI website here

p.s. Don’t shoot the messenger please.

Len:
I’m getting lost in this entire process. I was under the impression that MCS was coming up with, for Ontario, the SOP, Inspector qualification/ training that would be completed by fall of 2014. Now CSA is coming up with an national SOP to be completed by 2015, and I just got an email from NHICC and they are putting together a “National Occupational Standards” (NOS) for Canadian Home Inspectors. Seems like a whole lot duplication is going on across Canada.
If someone can put some clarity to all this it would be appreciated.

Its money they need money .

Doug, This is my understanding of the whole process.

  • MCS are driving the regulation of Home Inspectors in Ontario. This is through a series of panel discussions, a report, public consultation and eventually an Act of parliament and probably the creation of a new Delegate Administrative Agency (DAA) to administer the regulations.
  • Part of the regulation process will be to unify the Standards of Practice for Home Inspections (not any ancillary inspection services)
  • The standards are seen in two parts. A standard of Practice, that is publicly visible and will be used by Inspectors as part of their contracts with their clients, and a Standard of Duty of Care.
  • This latter piece is what is being worked on by the CSA. This is to remove the subjectivity of how an inspector should perform their tasks. This in my mind will be beneficial for the profession as it will remove the “he said-she said” scenario from any litigation.
  • The National Occupational Standard is a document that exists for most professions and trades. They are used by educational establishments, to identify the levels of education and skills someone needs to attain to reach a particular job function, and employers to ascertain if someone who is looking for employment does indeed meet those standards.

While it all looks a bit mish-mash on the surface, looking at these things as separate entities helps sort out the mess.

  1. The NOS will be what sets the bar that allows someone to say they are sufficiently skilled to enter the home Inspection profession. These are in other professions recommendations and reference levels, not enforced standards. They are more of an aspirational bar for professionals to attain.
  2. The Standards from CSA will in all likelihood be referenced by the regulations that will be set by the Government after guidance from the MCS. Anyone who operates as a Home Inspector will have to adhere to these standards in the WAY they do things for a “home inspection”, which will also be tightly defined by the regulation. These standards, as well as other regulatory requirements (mandatory E&O and GL for example) are likely to be mandatory in order to practice…

I hope this simplifies things.

About $1.1 billion from the latest look of things Roy :smiley:

Thanks Len

Ha! Nice!