Does your office or services business have 20 or more workers? A prevention program is mandatory.
Since October 1, 2025, Quebec's Regulation respecting prevention and participation mechanisms (RMPPE) applies to every establishment in the province — offices and service companies included. Full compliance is required by October 1, 2026.
"An office isn't dangerous" is exactly the sentence that leaves an establishment without a program the day the CNESST asks for it. The law makes no exception for workplaces without machines: all six risk categories apply — and the one inspectors have watched most closely since 2021, the psychosocial category, is precisely the one an office fills best.
What the law requires based on your headcount
19 workers or fewer per establishment:
- An action plan (risk identification and measures)
- A health and safety liaison officer (ALSS)
20 workers or more per establishment:
- A written prevention program, updated annually
- A health and safety committee (employer and worker representatives)
- A health and safety representative (HSR) designated by the workers
The tier is calculated per establishment. A 45-person head office and a small 8-person branch: a full prevention program for the first, an action plan for the second.
Office and services-business risks, across the RMPPE's 6 categories
Your program must cover six risk categories. Without a shop floor or a kitchen, they still fill up:
- Physical — workstation lighting, temperatures and drafts, open-plan background noise
- Chemical — cleaning products and supplies (WHMIS), even in office quantities
- Biological — hygiene of shared areas and the common kitchenette, first-aid organization
- Ergonomic — prolonged screen work, laptops used without docking equipment, sedentary posts, workstation setup
- Psychosocial — workload and work organization, psychological or sexual harassment, open-plan interruptions and cognitive noise, difficult clients on the phone, exposure to domestic or family violence
- Safety — same-level falls, emergency situations and evacuation, work outside regular hours
No joint sector-based association serves offices and services. There is no free guide built for your reality: every employer has to build their own program — and for an office, most of that program is organizational, not mechanical.
What a non-compliant establishment risks
The CNESST can request your prevention program during any intervention — a planned visit, a worker complaint or an accident. Under the AOHS, a corporation faces a fine of $2,115 to $4,226 for a first offense, and up to $84,519 where a worker's health, safety or physical integrity is compromised. These amounts are indexed every year and climb sharply for repeat offenses.
The fine isn't the real cost, though. The real cost is a harassment complaint with no policy and no process, an evacuation drill never held, and a due-diligence defense that can't be made.
Source: CNESST, Cadre d'émission des constats d'infraction, Annex 2 “Guide des sentences”, legal person — 2026 indexed amounts.
Where to start
Answer 10 questions about your establishment. The diagnostic gives you:
- your exact tier (action plan or prevention program)
- your top 3 priority gaps
- your fine exposure at the 2026 indexed amounts