What a WSIB clearance certificate is

Last reviewed 27 August 2026. Ontario.

A clearance is the WSIB telling you, in writing and on a particular date, that it will not come after you for a contractor's unpaid premiums.

That is the whole of it, and it is narrower than most people assume. It is not a safety rating, not proof of insurance, and not a statement that the business is any good. It is one sentence about one account, and it expires.

What it actually does

When you hire a contractor in Ontario, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act can make you responsible for their WSIB premiums if they do not pay them. A clearance is how that exposure is closed. The WSIB's own policy puts it plainly: by issuing one,

the WSIB waives its right to hold a principal liable for unpaid premiums and other amounts the contractor owes.

Two words in there carry the weight. Waives means the protection is real rather than a defence you would have to argue. And the waiver lasts for the validity period of that certificate, which is where the trouble starts, because that period is short and it ends without telling anybody.

How long it lasts

A clearance is valid for up to 90 calendar days, and it is renewable. The phrase "up to" is doing real work. The length depends on when it was issued, because the WSIB works on a quarterly cycle, so a clearance pulled in the middle of a quarter runs only to the end of that quarter rather than for a fresh ninety days from the day you asked.

The practical result is that most clearances in Ontario expire on one of four fixed dates: 20 February, 20 May, 20 August and 20 November. If you carry twenty subtrades, most of their certificates go stale on the same morning. The four dates and what to do in the three weeks before each one is a page of its own.

The trap in automatic renewal

The WSIB issues new clearances automatically while an account stays in good standing. That sounds like the problem solving itself, and for most of your subtrades most of the time it is.

The failure is the quiet one. When a contractor falls behind on their premiums, the renewal simply stops. Nobody rings you. Nothing arrives in your inbox. The certificate in your folder still looks exactly as it did, because it is a PDF and PDFs do not change. The only way to find out is to ask the WSIB again, and the only reason anyone asks again is that somebody remembered to.

This is the reason a folder of clearance certificates is weaker evidence than it looks. What protects you is a current clearance covering the period the work was done in, not a certificate you collected once at the start of a two year contract.

When you need one

In construction, a clearance has to be in place before work starts and stay in place for as long as the work lasts. Both sides carry obligations: the business doing the hiring and the business being hired.

There are exceptions. Home repairs or renovations done for the resident or occupant of the home, or for a family member, do not need one. Neither do delivery drivers dropping material, technicians servicing equipment, or utility workers. If you are a general contractor on a commercial site, none of those exceptions are going to apply to your subtrades.

How to get one

Clearances are free for accounts in good standing. There are two routes:

• Quick access on the WSIB's site, with no login. You need the contractor's WSIB account number or their legal name and address. This is what most offices use, one contractor at a time.
• A contractor list inside WSIB online services, which needs an account. You add the businesses you hire and the WSIB will send you reminders about them.

Either way, keep the result. A clearance you looked at and did not save is not evidence of anything eighteen months later.

Three things it does not tell you

1. Whether they carry liability insurance. Completely separate document, issued by a broker rather than by the province, and it expires on its own schedule. The difference between the two is worth ten minutes if anyone in your office uses the words interchangeably.
2. Whether their people are actually covered. A clearance speaks to the account's standing with the board, not to whether a particular worker on your site is on that account's payroll.
3. Whether they are safe to hire. No claims history, no injury record, no COR certification. A business can be fully paid up and still be one you would rather not have on your project.

Sources

• Clearance Certificate, WSIB Operational Policy Manual.
• Questions and answers: Clearances, WSIB.
• Clearances, WSIB.