For the past 36 days, paramedics in Toronto have been at lower-than-average staffing levels.

During the strike by civic employees, their numbers dropped to 75 per cent.

Now, the provincial body wants to make sure that would never happen.

The Ontario Paramedic Association has requested essential service status, saying it's a matter of public safety.

"We either are or aren't essential", OPA president Greg Furlong argued in a press release.

The new designation would mean emergency crews would go to work regardless of any municipal labour issues.

The OPA has asked the provincial Minister of Labour, Health and Community Safety to look into the request.

It would follow a 2005 decision at the federal level that made paramedics a public safety occupation.