Ontario recently passed a bill that specifically requires employers to take certain steps to prevent workplace violence and harassment. Here’s a look at Bill 168 (We’ll refer to it as “Bill 168,” even though it has now become an official OHS Amendment Act.) To download a copy of the Bill, click here.

What the New Ontario Workplace Violence Law Requires

Bill 168 was introduced in the Assembly on April 20, 2009 and passed on December 10. It takes effect on June 15, 2010. It applies to all employers in Ontario who are covered by the OHS Act.

The Bill has 7 key requirements:

1. Policies. Employers must prepare workplace violence and harassment policies and review them at least annually. Employers with 5 or more workers must put their policies in writing and post them conspicuously in the workplace.

2. Risk Assessment. Employers must conduct a workplace violence risk assessment and report their findings to the company’s Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC), safety representative or the workers (if there’s no JHSC or safety rep).

3. Violence program. Employers must develop a program to implement the workplace violence policy that includes measures:

• To controls risks of workplace violence identified in the assessment;
• To summon immediate assistance when workplace violence occurs;
• For workers to report incidents or threats of workplace violence; and
• For employers to deal with incidents, complaints and threats of workplace violence.

4. Domestic Violence. Employers must take every reasonable precaution to protect workers if employers are aware or ought to be aware that such workers are likely to suffer physical injury in the workplace as a result of domestic violence.  

5. Other Duties. Bill 168 clarifies the other duties of employers, supervisors and workers with respect to workplace violence and requires employers to train workers on the organization’s workplace violence policy and program.

6. Harassment Program. Employers must develop a program to implement the workplace harassment policy. That program must include measures for workers to report incidents of workplace harassment and spell out how the employer will deal with incidents and complaints of workplace harassment. In addition, the employer must train workers on the workplace harassment policy and program.

7. Worker’s Right to Refuse. Bill 168 expressly states that the worker’s right to refuse dangerous work includes the right to refuse work if workplace violence is likely to endanger the worker.

The Impact of the Workplace Violence Law in Ontario and Elsewhere

The duty of Ontario employers to protect workers from workplace violence is hardly an invention of Bill 168. On the contrary, it’s been officially recognized for years. But unlike most of the other provinces (including AB, BC, MB, NL, NB, NS, PE and SK), Ontario didn’t have a specific law or regulation addressing workplace violence; it simply implied the existence of such a duty through the so called “general duty” clause of its OHS Act (Sec. 25(2)(h)).

Bill 168 finally brings Ontario into line with the rest of Canada by spelling out that the duty exists and prescribing the measures employers are expected to take to fulfill that duty. Moreover, most of these measures—hazard assessments, policies and training—are the same ones required by other provinces.

But there are 2 significant exceptions where Bill 168 breaks new ground and goes further than any province has before in regulating workplace violence:

Domestic Violence. Ontario is the first province to extend workplace violence protections to domestic violence. This is largely a response to the Nov. 2005 murder of nurse Lori Dupont by her ex-boyfriend, a doctor at the hospital where she worked. Senior hospital administrators knew about the ex-boyfriend’s unstable behaviour and that he had threatened Dupont. But on the day she was murdered, the nurse and doctor were scheduled to work together. Effective June 15, employers in Ontario will no longer be able to turn a blind eye to domestic violence.

Refusal Rights. The right to refuse dangerous work exists in all parts of Canada. Presumably, refusal rights would include the fear of violence. But Ontario is the first province to specifically say this in its OHS laws.

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