Turning a blind eye to workplace violence, harassment and domestic violence is no longer an option under a new law that comes into effect June 15.
Amendments were made to the Occupational Health and Safety Act, known as Ontario Bill 168. Under the legislation, employers now have an obligation to take every reasonable precaution to protect workers from harassment and violence in the workplace.
Employers must develop written policies to address these issues, including how to deal with complaints and procedures for reporting and investigating.
These amendments are partly in response to the inquest conducted in the case of Lori Dupont, a nurse at Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital in Windsor murdered by a co-worker and former boyfriend in November 2005.
The new legislation and its implications at The University of Western Ontario was the topic of discussion at the Leaders’ Forum for Academic & Administrative Leaders on May 13 in the Great Hall.
“When you look at workplace violence and harassment, most of that can be avoided by people like yourselves doing your job effectively,” says Elgin Austen, director of Western’s Campus Community Police Service, to the audience of managers and leaders from across campus. “At Western, we are doing a lot of this already.”
With the new law in place, several new initiatives will roll out over the next few months, including a WebCT online learning session developed by Human Resources that explains what is required for reporting and responding to episodes of violence and harassment under Bill 168.
The university is creating an e-reporting module for incidents that are not an emergency, but are concerning. This triages information into a repository that can be tracked by different units.
Anyone with concerns about harassment or workplace or domestic violence should report it to their immediate supervisor. All personal safety concerns should be reported to Campus Police.
A colour-coded ‘Safe Campus’ matrix has been created to identify the level of response required for low- to high-risk behaviour, and offers suggested prevention, action and support services. This will be distributed to faculties and support units to act as a reference guide.
For example, low-risk behaviour is action that creates anxiety, such as bullying, verbal abuse, harassing conduct and disruptive and aggressive behaviour. A suggested prevention method includes seeking resources for stress, anger or depression counselling before the behaviour escalates. The incident should be documented, investigated, and followed-up.
The faculty or department should intervene quickly and try to prevent the behaviour from escalating.
In the case of an emergency where a person is in immediate danger, safety procedures and safe locations should be established and campus emergency services will provide support.
If domestic violence occurs in the workplace or is affecting a person’s job performance and the employer is aware of the situation, the employer must act because it can create an unsafe environment for employees.
An incident that occurs off-site, but involves employees, also should be reported to the employer.
Actors from London-based Supporting Roles Interactive Training performed scenes demonstrating harassment, threats and violence in the workplace. Following the scenarios, the group discussed how to respond to the situation.
“Inaction is not an option,” says Gitta Kulczycki, Vice-President (Resources & Operations). “The safety of the situation of whoever is involved is our primary concern. Err on the side of caution.”
“We have to make sure we deal with these problems before they get out of hand,” adds President Amit Chakma. “We have to play our appropriate role, no matter how uncomfortable it might be.”
Under the new law:
• Employers who are aware or ought to be aware of domestic violence that may spill over into the workplace must take reasonable precautions to protect the employee;
• Supervisors must advise workers of potential or actual danger to health or safety, including risk of workplace violence involving a person with a history of violent behaviour;
• Workers have a right to refuse to work if workplace violence is likely to endanger their safety; and
• In the case of physical harm or concerns for health or safety, privacy laws encourage the appropriate sharing of information, meaning safety trumps privacy.
A copy of the Safe Campus matrix is available on the Campus Police website at: https://www.uwo.ca/police/documentation/SafeCampusContinuumChartMay2008.pdf.