Agency report on ‘toxic’ workplace kept secret

The provincial government is keeping secret a report that examined allegations of a toxic workplace and poor management at the agency charged with keeping Ontario residents safe from fire and disaster.

“The ministry is unable to release the report because it contains confidential human resources information,” said Greg Flood, a provincial government spokesman.

The agency at issue is one that has gone through a fair bit of change and turmoil in the past five years, and has also come under fire recently by Ontario’s provincial auditor.

It is called the Office of the Fire Marshal and Emergency Management (OFMEM). The fire marshal side does “on scene” fire investigations across the province and provides training for new recruits at the Ontario Fire College. On the emergency management side, the agency responds to declared emergen- cies such as floods.

Before 2013, these were two agencies. But that summer, the provincial government announced that it was combining them into a super agency that would better serve the public.

A press release that year said 250 people would staff the new agency, which has its headquarters in the state-of-the art complex that includes the provincial coroner’s office.

The merger led to fewer staff overall, particularly on the emergency management side.

Soon after, staff, including seasoned investigators, started complaining. The Star does not have specific complaints but sources say they included “toxic work environment,” and poor management. The complaints are in some cases similar to issues raised in an investigation to workplace culture at the ministry of the attorney general’s civil law division, which the Star documented earlier this year.

At the newly formed OFMEM, in reaction to the complaints, a workplace probe was undertaken by consultant Jim Docherty, of James Docherty and Associates. He was hired in 2015 and paid, according to government records, $53,561 that same year, though the records do not provide details on the payment. Docherty told the Star Thursday that he could not answer questions about work he did on the report and could not confirm whether that payment was related to the OFMEM report as there “would have been numerous invoices to the province that year.”

The report was never released to the people who made the complaints, and it remains under lock and key. Government spokesperson Flood acknowledged that there were complaints about the “organizational culture” following the merger of the two agencies. He said the review was completed in October 2015.

“The review made several recommendations, which have guided significant changes to that organization, including the separation of the fire and emergency management functions within OFMEM. New leadership is in place and the ministry is in the process of hiring a dedicated chief of emergency management,” said Flood, of the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services.

“These changes have resulted in a more positive and respectful working environment and an improvement in morale among OFMEM staff.”

Sources within the agency say little has changed and are shaking their heads at how the government could, in a space of five years, merge an agency and then, in effect, split it up.

The two people on the hot seat over the report and issues at the agency are Ross Nichols, the current fire marshal and chief of emergency management, and Matt Torigian, the deputy minister at the community safety and correctional services. Neither would respond to interview requests from the Star.

A search of government records reveals that the toxic work environment allegations are just part of a larger issue affecting the new joint agency and that there are serious conerns over whether the agency is capable of doing the job of keeping Ontario residents safe.

Last December, provincial auditor Bonnie Lysyk came down hard on the OFMEM, raising concerns that the merger resulted in a continual weakening of Ontario’s ability to be prepared for and to respond to emergencies

Lysyk’s December 2017 report noted “frequent turnover” at the agency, with four bosses in five years handling the emergency management side of the new agency. She also raised alarms over the steady defunding of the emergency side, and showed how its budget and staffing has steadily decreased.

One area she focused on was a program designed to identify infrastructure problems — transportation, telecommunication, the health system and six other areas — to make sure they are ready for an emergency. That program, among others, was put on hold due to the cutbacks that came with the merger.

Perhaps most concerning is a section of the auditor’s report that deals with risk assessment. Lysyk found the last risk assessment was done in 2012, but the most current information in that assessment was from 2009.