The Regulation of Cleaning in Ontario: the Complete Map

The shape of the system: layers, not a single rule

Think of Ontario's cleaning requirements as layers stacked on top of each other. The bottom layer covers every workplace in the province. On top of it sit sector-specific layers that apply only to regulated settings, adding more prescriptive cleaning standards and, above all, more documentation. A dental office is subject to the general workplace layer and the dental layer; a long-term care home to the general layer and the healthcare/LTC layer. The higher the risk to vulnerable people, the more the layer demands.

One idea runs through the entire stack: cleaning must be done to a standard, and — increasingly — proven with a record. That is the connective tissue of modern Ontario cleaning regulation.

The general workplace layer (applies to everyone)

Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) and its regulations set the baseline. The Industrial Establishments regulation (R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 851) requires workplaces to be kept clean and orderly, with hazards controlled. OHSA is enforced by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, whose inspectors can attend workplaces and issue orders.

Bill 190 washroom-cleaning records. The most significant recent change: the Working for Workers Five Act, 2024 (Bill 190) amended OHSA so that, since July 1, 2025, employers who provide washrooms for workers must keep them clean and maintain records of that cleaning, available to workers and inspectors. This is the first broad, cross-sector cleaning-records duty that reaches ordinary offices, shops and warehouses — not just clinical settings. (Our free washroom cleaning log generator exists specifically for this rule.)

WHMIS. The Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System — implemented in Ontario under OHSA and aligned with the federal Hazardous Products Act and the Globally Harmonized System — governs the hazardous products cleaners use every day. It requires proper labels, Safety Data Sheets, and worker training for hazardous cleaning chemicals.

WSIB. The Workplace Safety and Insurance Act requires many employers, including most cleaning contractors, to register with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and carry coverage. A business engaging a cleaner should ask for a current WSIB clearance certificate; without it, an injured worker's claim can land on the client.

The healthcare & long-term care layer

Where people are sick and vulnerable, environmental cleaning is treated as an infection-control measure, and the standards are the most demanding in the province.

Public Health Ontario / PIDAC. The Provincial Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee's Best Practices for Environmental Cleaning for Prevention and Control of Infections in All Health Care Settings is the reference standard. It is guidance rather than a statute, but it is what hospitals, clinics and inspectors treat as the benchmark — specifying cleaning frequencies, high-touch-surface attention, products and, crucially, documentation.

Long-term care. The Fixing Long-Term Care Act, 2021 and its regulation (O. Reg. 246/22) impose infection prevention and control requirements on long-term care homes, inspected by the Ministry of Long-Term Care. Environmental cleaning — resident rooms, high-touch surfaces, outbreak and terminal cleaning — is part of the home's IPAC program and must be documented. (Our long-term care cleaning log supports exactly this.)

Regulated health professions. Clinics run by regulated professionals — physicians (College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario), and other colleges under the Regulated Health Professions Act — carry their own IPAC and environmental-cleaning expectations for their premises.

The dental layer

Dentistry has its own detailed regime. The Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario (RCDSO) — the profession's self-regulatory college — maintains a Standard of Practice on Infection Prevention and Control in the Dental Office. It sets requirements for environmental cleaning and disinfection of clinical-contact and housekeeping surfaces, for instrument reprocessing and sterilisation (including biological/spore testing), and for keeping records — all assessed through RCDSO IPAC assessments. The dentist-owner is accountable for compliance. (See our RCDSO IPAC checklist and dental cleaning log.)

The child care layer

Licensed child care is governed by the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014 (CCEYA) and its regulation O. Reg. 137/15, licensed by the Ministry of Education and supported by Public Health Ontario's cleaning-and-disinfection schedule for child care. Requirements cover the sanitizing of toys and surfaces, diapering areas, food-preparation surfaces and sleep areas, with cleaning routines that program advisors and local public health inspectors expect to see recorded. (Our daycare cleaning & sanitizing log maps to this.)

The food-service layer

Food premises are regulated under the Health Protection and Promotion Act (HPPA) and the Food Premises regulation, O. Reg. 493/17, enforced by local public health units. Toronto's well-known DineSafe program — with its pass/conditional/closed placards — is one health unit's disclosure system; other regions (Peel, York, Durham and beyond) run equivalent inspection-and-disclosure programs. The rules require cleaning and sanitizing of food-contact and other surfaces to prevent foodborne illness, and inspections are unannounced. (See our restaurant cleaning log and DineSafe prep guide.)

The product & environmental layer

Underneath all of the above sits regulation of the cleaning products themselves. In Canada, hard-surface disinfectants that make a germ-killing claim are regulated by Health Canada and assigned a Drug Identification Number (DIN); the label then legally defines what the product kills, at what dilution and contact time. This is why professional cleaning records note the product and its DIN — it ties the clean to a vetted claim. Broader environmental and disposal rules also apply to chemical handling and waste.

A note on accessibility (AODA)

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) is not a cleaning law, but it shapes the facilities cleaning happens in — from accessible washrooms to the accessible-parking and path-of-travel standards under the Design of Public Spaces requirements. It is adjacent to cleaning rather than part of it, but a complete picture of facility obligations includes it.

The map at a glance

The through-line: do it to a standard, prove it with a record

Read across the whole map and one pattern dominates the modern direction of travel: it is no longer enough to clean — a facility is increasingly expected to demonstrate that it cleaned, to a standard, with the right products, on a known schedule. Bill 190 pushed that expectation from regulated settings into every ordinary workplace. The signed cleaning log — posted at a washroom, filed in a dental binder, kept on a child-care shelf — is the small, shared artefact that satisfies almost every layer of this system at once. Understanding the map is really understanding that documentation is now the common currency of compliance.

This guide is part of the free Zusashi Cleaning Science & Reference Library — eight cited references on how and why cleaning works.

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References & further reading

This is a general map of Ontario cleaning-related regulation as of 2026; the primary sources govern in any specific case:

• Occupational Health and Safety Act (Ontario) and R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 851; the Working for Workers Five Act, 2024 (Bill 190).
• Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) — OHSA and the federal Hazardous Products Act / Regulations.
• Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 (WSIB).
• Public Health Ontario / PIDAC. Best Practices for Environmental Cleaning.
• Fixing Long-Term Care Act, 2021 and O. Reg. 246/22.
• Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario (RCDSO). Standard of Practice — IPAC in the Dental Office.
• Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014 and O. Reg. 137/15; Public Health Ontario child-care cleaning schedule.
• Health Protection and Promotion Act and O. Reg. 493/17 (Food Premises); local public health inspection programs (e.g., DineSafe).
• Health Canada. Hard-surface disinfectants (Drug Identification Number).
• Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (adjacent facility standards).

Note: this is a general educational overview, not legal advice, and regulations change. Confirm current requirements against the statutes, regulations and your regulator before relying on them.

Zusashi Maintenance cleans to these standards and leaves the records that satisfy them — across healthcare, dental, child care, food service and general workplaces in the GTA, with free cleaning log & checklist tools for each regime. To set up a compliant, documented cleaning program, get in touch.