HALIFAX, N.S. – Amendments to Nova Scotia’s Occupational Health and Safety Act will go into effect on June 12, according to a news release from the province’s Department of Labour and Advanced Education. The changes, which were passed into law in April of last year, will give additional authority to the government’s oh&s director to enforce safety laws with repeat offenders, the release noted. The Department will be able to issue stop-work orders to all of a repeat offender’s worksites, apply for a Supreme Court injunction to prohibit the offender from working in its sector and require the employer to notify the government of future work activities and locations. “Most employers operate safe workplaces, but there are some who repeatedly break serious safety laws and put people at risk of injury or death. We need to hold them more accountable,” Kelly Regan, the N.S. Minister of Labour and Advanced Education, said in a press statement on April 26. “These changes help ensure worker safety is everyone’s top priority.” The amendments received praise from Construction Association of Nova Scotia president Duncan Williams, who said that they will “level the playing field for the majority of our industry who make safety a priority.”