Most companies in the landscape industry have a predictable work schedule. Lawn care ramps up in May, plants go in the ground in early June and installation projects get scheduled months in advance. But snow and ice management doesn’t negotiate. It arrives when it arrives, and the professionals who manage it have exactly as much preparation time as the calendar allows, which is sometimes not much at all.
This reality shapes everything about the snow and ice sector: the risk profile, the staffing model, the equipment investment and the liability exposure. These are not theoretical concerns. They are the daily operating conditions of every professional contractor who carries a snow contract and they deserve serious, sustained attention from the broader industry.
The past two winters added another layer to an already demanding picture. A critical salt shortage hit the sector hard. Contractors couldn’t secure sufficient supply while in the thick of it and were left scrambling to manage contracts, client expectations and liability concerns with less product than the job called for. For businesses built around a commitment to safe, accessible surfaces, that’s a fundamental problem. And based on what we know about supply conditions heading into this coming winter, there is no clear relief on the horizon. Landscape Ontario (LO) has been working directly with the salt mines to better understand the supply constraints and find practical ways to ease them, because waiting out the shortage isn’t a strategy our members can afford.
The shortage has also forced a sharper conversation about how salt gets used. Contractors who have had to stretch supply have looked harder at application rates, timing and viable alternatives. That’s an uncomfortable way to arrive at better practice, but it’s getting there. LO has been working with partner organizations across environmental and municipal spaces to advance approaches that reduce the ecological impact of salt without compromising safety. The Smart About Salt Council (SASC) has been central to that work, building a certification program that reflects what precise, responsible application actually looks like. When supply is constrained, the case for applying only what you need becomes a lot more concrete. SASC’s work is more relevant now than ever, and the growing number of contractors pursuing certification reflects a sector being pushed, by circumstance as much as conviction, toward a smarter approach.
On training and infrastructure, LO has been building toward something significant. Our new 28,000-square-foot training centre at our home base in Milton, Ont., is the largest capital investment this association has ever made. Alongside it, we have been developing curriculum and training programs built specifically for the snow and ice sector. Not adapted from general landscape content, it is being designed from the ground up for the demands of winter operations. The goal is a recognized credential with formal accreditation to provide a common standard for workers and employers and give clients a basis for understanding what a qualified winter maintenance professional actually looks like. A recognized training pathway changes the recruitment picture and gives people a reason to see winter maintenance as a career worth pursuing.
Liability is the issue that keeps snow contractors up at night. Not the storms themselves, but the legal and insurance exposure that follows them. Ontario’s Occupiers’ Liability Act, as it currently stands, does not reflect how winter maintenance work actually operates in the field. LO continues to actively lobby the provincial government, pushing for a fair and distributed liability framework that recognizes the contractor’s role alongside the property owners and protects businesses that do the work properly. No contractor can guarantee a zero-slip surface in active weather conditions. The law should reflect that reality and we intend to keep making that case until it does.
The snow and ice sector is one of the most demanding corners of this industry. The people in it take on significant risk, work in difficult and increasingly unpredictable conditions and provide a service that affects public safety every time it snows. They deserve a professional infrastructure, built around training, standards and advocacy, that matches the weight of what they do. That is what we are working to build.
Joe Salemi CAE
LO Executive Director
jsalemi@landscapeontario.com
