You would think that there would be some consistency as to how these important topics are treated in the Occupational Health and Safety regulations across the country.
Actually there are several provinces that have enacted similar regulations to each other, but elsewhere – not so much!
Provinces which have comprehensive regulations covering both violence and harassment regulations include Manitoba, Ontario, PEI and Newfoundland (where the regulation is brief but to the point) and the Federal Government. Elsewhere in Alberta, BC, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia the OHS regulations cover workplace violence but not harassment. Even then the Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia regulation apply only to certain places of work. In Saskatchewan this is law enforcement services, financial services, retail establishments open between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. and taxi services. In Nova Scotia the regulation applies to a long list of workplaces including medical facilities, schools, retail sales outlets and taxi services. Quebec has no references to workplace violence but does have a regulation about harassment. New Brunswick has no OHS regulations on either topic but does publish guidelines on workplace violence, relying on the General Duties of Employers for compliance and enforcement. At present only Ontario includes clauses in their OHS regulations which apply to circumstances where domestic violence is perpetuated into the workplace (see clause 32.0.4). However British Columbia is expected to announce similar regulations in the Fall of 2011. This comes from a coroners recommendation after a murder by a spouse in the workplace, see: www.pssg.gov.bc.ca/coroners/publications/docs/death-review-panel-domestic-violence.pdf.
Workplace violence is self-explanatory, but what is ‘harassment’?
Manitoba uses this definition:
“1.1 The following definitions apply in this regulation.
1.1.1(1) For the purpose of the definition "harassment" in section 1.1, conduct is
(a) objectionable conduct that creates a risk to the health of a worker; or (b) severe conduct that adversely affects a worker's psychological or physical well-being.
Interpretation: "harassment"
1.1.1(1) For the purpose of the definition "harassment" in section 1.1, conduct is
(a) objectionable, if it is based on race, creed, religion, colour, sex, sexual orientation, gender-determined characteristics, marital status, family status, source of income, political belief, political association, political activity, disability, physical size or weight, age, nationality, ancestry or place of origin; or
(b) severe, if it could reasonably cause a worker to be humiliated or intimidated and is repeated, or in the case of a single occurrence, has a lasting, harmful effect on a worker.”
Other jurisdictions use essentially similar wording.
One thing is certain. If an incident involving either workplace violence or harassment occurs in the workplace, the authorities will find what they need in whatever regulations they have to write their order!
So with this patchwork of inconsistent regulations what can an employer do to be sure to be compliant? Well rumour has it that provinces either without or with incomplete WVH regulations at the moment are all working towards implementation of the full set in the near future. Typically what does an employer have to do to comply with the existing WVH regulations? This is pretty consistent everywhere:
- Perform a hazard assessment
- Create a policy and procedure
- Train everyone.
Here comes the commercial!
OLE's mission is to help organizations train their employees to a consistent level, whichever province they are in. Many companies currently have a fragmented health and safety system with locations in each province using different training providers and conforming to different health and safety policies and procedures (if any). Although regulations differ in their wording, the intent is generally the same – do everything you can to protect your employees.
When we create all of our online safety training courses, we build them to the best aspects of each provincial standard and add the specific regulations at the end. Therefore your employees will relate to a real online training course that will affect their safety behavior when they return to their job. This process has proven to improve communication and awareness within the organization and reduce incidents.
We offer a very inexpensive and convenient service that has proven to be very effective for our clients. Our Online Workplace Violence and Harassment course can train large numbers of your employees at low cost whilst also keeping good records of who has been trained and who has not. It is important to be able to show an inspector when and how everyone has been trained. Our next level of service is to embed your Workplace Violence and Harassment policies within our online course. We also incorporate your company logo and internal contact details into our course. This customization is very affordable and will help you keep your employees knowledgeable and safe! Please use the Contact us form or call us to find out more.
