Identifying workplace violence and harassment risks and controlling the associated hazards

Violence and harassment at work is a serious problem in Canada. According to Statistics Canada, 17% of all self-reported incidents of violence and/or harassment happen in the workplace. That’s a total of 365,000 incidents in Canadian workplaces every year. This statistic only reflects the number of incidents that get reported – many more go unreported. A recent Canada.ca survey suggests that as many as 25% of all incidents go unreported.

The numbers make it clear – identifying workplace violence and harassment risks and controlling the associated hazards is imperative in all Canadian workplaces!

Get Your Questions Answered

An initial step to identifying hazards is to also recognize that while no workplace is immune to violence and harassment risks, certain workplaces and/or fields are more vulnerable

Get the JHSC Involved

When the Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC) does their monthly inspections, they need to look for violence and harassment risks along with the other obvious hazards they identify each month.

How Can the JHSC Identify Workplace Violence and Harassment Risks?

The JHSC receives specific training to prepare them for their role. As part of that training, they learn that violence and harassment risks do not just generate from within the workplace.

An initial step to identifying hazards is to also recognize that while no workplace is immune to violence and harassment risks, certain workplaces and/or fields are more vulnerable, such as:

Health care
Social services
Retail
Hospitality
Financial institutions
Educational institutions
Transportation
Police, security, and corrections

To identify actual or potential workplace violence and harassment risks, The Occupational Health and Safety Act (the Act) makes employers responsible for completing a risk assessment for workplace violence. The employer may complete the assessment themselves, or they might engage or assign that assessment to the JHSC. Employers may also outsource the risk assessment to private training providers such MidSouthWest Training and Consulting.

Do you want MidSouthWest Training and Consulting to handle your risk assessment? Give us a call today!

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How Should the JHSC Conduct a Workplace Violence and Harassment Risk Assessment?

When conducting a workplace violence risk assessment, start with a general physical assessment of the workplace. Following that, identify any risks associated with specific work conditions or activities.

Look for contributing factors when identifying potential violence risks:

People factors, such as volatile customers, stressed coworkers, or distressed patients
Environmental factors such as high crime areas or mobile workplaces
Process factors, such as lack of reporting process, working alone, or unclear policies

Whether you involve the JHSC or not, they must receive the data collected from the risk assessment. The JHSC uses this information to direct workplace inspections, and it also indicates areas that need special consideration.

How Can Workplaces Control Workplace Violence and Harassment Hazards?

With the data from the risk assessment, the JHSC must make recommendations for hazard controls. A hazard control for workplace violence and harassment may include:

Elimination controls that remove the risk entirely (for example, removing petty cash from the premises or ensuring that no one works alone at night)
Engineering controls that aim to reduce the risk through an element built into the design or process (for example, the installation of panic buttons for gas station clerks who work alone at night)
Administrative controls aimed at creating safe work practices (for example, having a violence and harassment policy and program in place, and providing training on the program element, or other policies aimed at protecting workers)
Worker controls (for example, providing whistles or screamers to employees who work in isolated areas)

Don’t forget to monitor hazard controls for continued effectiveness!

Trust MidSouthWest Training and Consulting

Learning to identify violence and harassment hazards and apply effective controls is an important JHSC function and is included in JHSC certification training.

MidSouthWest Training and Consulting provides JHSC training in association with Langlois Safety Training and Consulting Services, an approved CPO Provider. We offer in-house and on-site JHSC Part One, Part Two, and Refresher training. We also offer Workplace Violence and Harassment Training and consulting services. You can trust MidSouthWest Training and Consulting to provide you with cost-effective training solutions tailored to meet your organization’s unique health and safety needs.

To ask to learn more, contact us online or call 289.309.1143. Visit us 24/7 on the web at midsouthwest.ca.

Last updated May 29, 2024