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Full Story:
The Ontario Legislature has passed third and final reading of Bill 168, an Act to amend the Occupational Health and Safety Act with respect to violence and harassment in the workplace. It is anticipated that Bill 168 will receive Royal Assent soon and come into force six months later.
Employers will be obligated under this new legislation to:
• Prepare and post written policies dealing with workplace violence and harassment. They policies must be reviewed annually.
• Engage in assessments to measure the risk of workplace violence. A copy of the risk assessment and its results must be provided to the Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee, Safety Representative or, in the absence of a committee or representative, the employees.
• Re-assess the risks of workplace violence as often as necessary to ensure the employee’s protection.
• Develop a comprehensive workplace violence policy and harassment prevention program. .
• Provide information and training to employees on the contents of the workplace harassment and violence policies and programs.
• Take all reasonable precautions in the circumstances for the protection of the employee if a domestic violence situation would likely expose an employee to physical injury in the workplace.
• Provide information, including personal information, about a person with a history of violent behaviour if the worker can be expected to encounter that person in the course of his or her work, and the risk of workplace violence is likely to expose the worker to physical injury.
The legislation also permits a worker to refuse to work or do work where he or she has reason to believe that workplace violence is likely to endanger himself or herself.
For more information on this topic or to discuss how this may impact your organization and steps that you can take to ensure legal compliance, please contact Dave Hagel at 905-637-5673 or at dave@highperformancehr.ca
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