Snow Removal Contract: What It Should Say (Ontario)

The slip-and-fall clock

Since 2021, Ontario's Occupiers' Liability Act requires anyone injured by snow or ice on a property to give written notice within 60 days. That window is when an owner needs records, not memories. A contract that produces a time-stamped log for every visit is the difference between a defensible file and an argument.

Clauses to insist on

Trigger depth in centimetres. Season dates. Which surfaces are in scope, by name. Salting: per application or included, and which product where. Where snow is stacked and when it is hauled. What the service log records and who receives it. Certificate of insurance delivered before the season. Response expectations stated as what the contractor will do, not as promises nobody can keep in a blizzard.

What we will not put in writing

Clear-by times and round-the-clock promises, until there is a signed crew behind them. A contract full of promises the contractor cannot keep protects nobody in a claim. Ours states terms and produces records.

Related questions

Who keeps the service logs?

You do. Each visit's log goes to the manager or owner, with a monthly summary. Keep them for at least the season plus the notice window.

Do you name a response time?

We state the trigger and the order in which sites are served. Specific clear-by times are not written in while the venture runs without its own crew; that will change when it does.