Canada has one of the highest rates of workplace violence among the industrialized nations, however only a few provinces specifically have legislation on an organization’s duties to handle and prevent workplace violence.

As of June 15, 2010 the province of Ontario will amend the Occupational and Safety Act to include workplace violence.  The amendment is known as Bill 168 which defines set out the obligations that businesses and organizations have to comply with in order to prevent workplace violence.

Some of the areas the legislation covers are:

• Workplace Violence
• Harassment
• Domestic Violence in the workplace
• Duties and Responsibilities of employers on reporting and handling workplace violence
• Handling employees with past violent behaviour

To comply with Ontario Law workplaces are required to have the following:

1. Risk Assessment to identify jobs or tasks that have a high potential for workplace violence and have identify means to control and mitigate those risks.
2. Policies and procedures for reporting and handling workplace violence.
3. Training and proof of training of Managers, supervisors and employees of those policies and procedures.
4. Monitor the program to ensure policies and procedures are being followed