We've been asked a few times by customers how they can use SAFETYSYNC to ensure compliance with Ontario's new law on Workplace Violence and Harassment, Bill 168.  There are two elements of the law that require attention: policy and training.

WORKPLACE VIOLENCE POLICY
All companies must have a Workplace Violence Policy "posted prominently" by June 15, 2010.  If you don't already have a Workplace Violence Policy, you might consider developing one or hiring an OH&S consultant to help you with this process.  Once the policy has been approved for distribution, load it into the SAFETYSYNC company administration portal as a new policy (under Documentation / Policies in the menu), by clicking "Add Policy".  

 

We have a template workplace violence policy, however most clients start with a blank policy. Policies can be typed, copied and pasted, or uploaded as pdf documents.  After you've saved your first version, assign the policy to EVERY position in your orgainization by clicking "Select All" in the "Required" column of the Positions tab.

Employees will be sent an email at the reminder interval you've specified, with a link to the outstanding policy.  They will be required to acknowledge the new Workplace Violence Policy to maintain their 100% compliance with your safety program.

WORKPLACE VIOLENCE TRAINING
All companies must now train their employees ANNUALLY on how to recognize signs of violence and harassment, as well as how to respond and deal with those situations.  We have two lessons on Workplace Violence in SAFETYSYNC (under the Violence and Security course):

 Workplace Violence Awareness (10 mins)
 Workplace Violence Prevention and Response (5 mins)

We recommend turning on both lessons, but as with all our courses, the lessons you choose are completely customizable.  The course can be assigned to employees by making it "Required" for all positions.

Alternatively, if a company has another training video which they've licensed or discovered elsewhere online, it can be uploaded or linked accordingly.

By default, a number of quiz questions will be assigned for the two lessons, along with a pass rate of 80%.  Feel free to add or remove questions, and adjust the pass rate.

Last but not least, go into the course settings, and set the expiry for the course to "1 year".  Employees will have to re-take the course annually to remain compliant with Bill 168.