Workplace Violence and Harassment

The Occupational Health and Safety Act requires employers in Ontario to assess the risks of workplace violence, develop policies and programs, and work towards eliminating violence and harassment in their workplaces.

Workplace violence is the exercise of physical force by a person against a worker in a workplace that causes or could cause physical injury. [OHS Act, s. 1] It includes any attempt or threat to exercise physical force against a worker in the workplace that could cause physical injury to the worker. A threat can be a statement or behaviour that a worker reasonably interprets as a threat.

Workplace harassment is defined as “(a) engaging in a course of vexatious comment or conduct against a worker, in a workplace, that is known or ought reasonably to be known to be unwelcome or (b) workplace sexual harassment.” [OHS Act, s. 1] Vexatious means causing annoyance or worry. Note that a reasonable action taken by an employer or supervisor regarding the management and direction of workers or the workplace is not considered to be workplace harassment. [OHS Act, s. 1]

The employer must: [OHS Act, s. 32.0.1]

Prepare a policy about workplace violence,
Prepare a policy about workplace harassment, and
Review these policies as often as needed, but at least once a year.

These policies must be posted in a conspicuous location at the workplace when there are 6 or more workers regularly employed. [OHS Act, s. 32.0.1(2)]

Employers must develop and maintain a program to implement the policy to protect workers from workplace violence and harassment, including the impacts of domestic violence that may affect the workplace [OHS Act, s. 32.0.4]. This duty includes: [OHS Act, s. 32.0.2] [OHS Act, s. 32.0.3] [OHS Act, s. 32.0.5] [OHS Act, s. 32.0.6]

assessing the risks based on the nature of the workplace, the type of work, or the conditions of work,
implementing measures and procedures to control the risks identified in the assessment,
developing procedures for calling for immediate assistance,
developing ways for workers to report incidents,
conducting investigations,
investigating and responding to incidents or complaints,
advising the health and safety committee or representative, if any, of the results of the assessment, and
advising workers if there is a risk of workplace violence from a person with a history of violent behaviour.

Note: it is not always possible to control the behaviour of others.

Act respectfully towards others while at work and during work-related activities.
Do not engage in or tolerate workplace violence or harassment, intentionally or unintentionally.
Respect the diversity of the workplace. Learn to appreciate the unique qualities and strengths of a diverse workforce.
Comply with all company policies and cooperate with any efforts to investigate and resolve matters arising from a report of workplace violence and harassment.
Actively participate in any workplace violence and harassment training required by the employer and by law.
In the event of a workplace violence incident, take care of your own immediate physical safety first and then report the incident to human resources, manager, supervisor, or to the police, whichever the situation warrants.

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT

R.S.O. 1990, c. O.1

Section 1 Definitions

1. (1) In this Act,

"adjudicator" Repealed. [S.O. 1998, c. 8, s. 49]

"Agency" Repealed. [S.O. 1997, c. 16, s. 2]

"Board" means the Ontario Labour Relations Board;

"Building Code" means any version of the Ontario Building Code that was in force at any time since it was made under the Building Code Act, 1974, the Building Code Act of the Revised Statutes of Ontario, 1980, the Building Code Act of the Revised Statutes of Ontario, 1990, the Building Code Act, 1992 or a successor to the Building Code Act, 1992;

"certified member" means a committee member who is certified under section 7.6;

"Chief Prevention Officer" means the Chief Prevention Officer appointed under subsection 22.3 (1);

"committee" means a joint health and safety committee established under this Act;

"competent person" means a person who,

(a) is qualified because of knowledge, training and experience to organize the work and its performance,

(b) is familiar with this Act and the regulations that apply to the work, and

"construction" includes erection, alteration, repair, dismantling, demolition, structural maintenance, painting, land clearing, earth moving, grading, excavating, trenching, digging, boring, drilling, blasting, or concreting, the installation of any machinery or plant, and any work or undertaking in connection with a project but does not include any work or undertaking underground in a mine;

"constructor" means a person who undertakes a project for an owner and includes an owner who undertakes all or part of a project by himself or by more than one employer;

"Deputy Minister" means the Deputy Minister of Labour;

"designated substance" means a biological, chemical or physical agent or combination thereof prescribed as a designated substance to which the exposure of a worker is prohibited, regulated, restricted, limited or controlled;

"Director" means an inspector under this Act who is appointed as a Director for the purposes of this Act;

"employer" means a person who employs one or more workers or contracts for the services of one or more workers and includes a contractor or subcontractor who performs work or supplies services and a contractor or subcontractor who undertakes with an owner, constructor, contractor or subcontractor to perform work or supply services;

"engineer" means, subject to any prescribed requirements or restrictions, a person who is licensed as a professional engineer or who holds a limited licence under the Professional Engineers Act;

"engineer of the Ministry" Repealed. [S.O. 2021, c. 34, Sch. 15, s. 1];

"factory" means,

(a) a building or place other than a mine, mining plant or place where homework is carried on, where,

(i) any manufacturing process or assembling in connection with the manufacturing of any goods or products is carried on,

(ii) in preparing, inspecting, manufacturing, finishing, repairing, warehousing, cleaning or adapting for hire or sale any substance, article or thing, energy is,

(A) used to work any machinery or device, or

(B) modified in any manner,

(iii) any work is performed by way of trade or for the purposes of gain in or incidental to the making of any goods, substance, article or thing or part thereof,

(iv) any work is performed by way of trade or for the purposes of gain in or incidental to the altering, demolishing, repairing, maintaining, ornamenting, finishing, storing, cleaning, washing or adapting for sale of any goods, substance, article or thing, or

(v) aircraft, locomotives or vehicles used for private or public transport are maintained,

(b) a laundry including a laundry operated in conjunction with,

(i) a public hospital or a community health facility within the meaning of the Oversight of Health Facilities and Devices Act, 2017 that was formerly licensed under the Private Hospitals Act,

(ii) a hotel, or

(iii) a public or private institution for religious, charitable or educational purposes, and

"hazardous material" means a biological or chemical agent named or described in the regulations as a hazardous material;

"hazardous physical agent" means a physical agent named or described in the regulations as a hazardous physical agent;

"health and safety management system" means a coordinated system of procedures, processes and other measures that is designed to be implemented by employers in order to promote continuous improvement in occupational health and safety;

"health and safety representative" means a health and safety representative selected under this Act;

"homework" means the doing of any work in the manufacture, preparation, improvement, repair, alteration, assembly or completion of any article or thing or any part thereof by a person for wages in premises occupied primarily as living accommodation;

"industrial establishment" means an office building, factory, arena, shop or office, and any land, buildings and structures appertaining thereto;

"inspector" means an inspector appointed for the purposes of this Act and includes a Director;

"labour relations officer" means a labour relations officer appointed under the Labour Relations Act, 1995.

"licensee" means a person who holds a licence under Part III of the Crown Forest Sustainability Act, 1994 ;

"logging" means the operation of felling or trimming trees for commercial or industrial purposes or for the clearing of land, and includes the measuring, storing, transporting or floating of logs, the maintenance of haul roads, scarification, the carrying out of planned burns and the practice of silviculture;

"mine" means any work or undertaking for the purpose of opening up, proving, removing or extracting any metallic or non-metallic mineral or mineral-bearing substance, rock, earth, clay, sand or gravel;

"mining plant" means any roasting or smelting furnace, concentrator, mill or place used for or in connection with washing, crushing, grinding, sifting, reducing, leaching, roasting, smelting, refining, treating or research on any substance mentioned in the definition of "mine";

"Minister" means the Minister of Labour;

"Ministry" means the Ministry of Labour;

"occupational illness" means a condition that results from exposure in a workplace to a physical, chemical or biological agent to the extent that the normal physiological mechanisms are affected and the health of the worker is impaired thereby and includes an occupational disease for which a worker is entitled to benefits under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 ;

"Office of the Employer Adviser" means the office continued under subsection 176(2) of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 ;

"Office of the Worker Adviser" means the office continued under subsection 176(1) of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997;

"owner" includes a trustee, receiver, mortgagee in possession, tenant, lessee, or occupier of any lands or premises used or to be used as a workplace, and a person who acts for or on behalf of an owner as an agent or delegate;

"prescribed" means prescribed by a regulation made under this Act;

"professional engineer of the Ministry" means a person employed by the Ministry and who is licensed as a professional engineer under the Professional Engineers Act;

"project" means a construction project, whether public or private, including,

(a) the construction of a building, bridge, structure, industrial establishment, mining plant, shaft, tunnel, caisson, trench, excavation, highway, railway, street, runway, parking lot, cofferdam, conduit, sewer, water main, service connection, telegraph, telephone or electrical cable, pipe line, duct or well, or any combination thereof,

(b) the moving of a building or structure, and

"regulations" means the regulations made under this Act;

"shop" means a building, booth or stall or a part of such building, booth or stall where goods are handled, exposed or offered for sale or where services are offered for sale;

"supervisor" means a person who has charge of a workplace or authority over a worker;

"trade union" means a trade union as defined in the Labour Relations Act, 1995 that has the status of exclusive bargaining agent under that Act in respect of any bargaining unit or units in a workplace and includes an organization representing workers or persons to whom this Act applies where such organization has exclusive bargaining rights under any other Act in respect of such workers or persons;

"workplace" means any land, premises, location or thing at, upon, in or near which a worker works;

"workplace harassment" means,

(a) engaging in a course of vexatious comment or conduct against a worker in a workplace that is known or ought reasonably to be known to be unwelcome, or

(b) workplace sexual harassment;

"workplace sexual harassment" means,

(a) engaging in a course of vexatious comment or conduct against a worker in a workplace because of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, where the course of comment or conduct is known or ought reasonably to be known to be unwelcome, or

(b) making a sexual solicitation or advance where the person making the solicitation or advance is in a position to confer, grant or deny a benefit or advancement to the worker and the person knows or ought reasonably to know that the solicitation or advance is unwelcome;

"workplace violence" means,

(a) the exercise of physical force by a person against a worker, in a workplace, that causes or could cause physical injury to the worker,

(b) an attempt to exercise physical force against a worker, in a workplace, that could cause physical injury to the worker,

(c) a statement or behaviour that it is reasonable for a worker to interpret as a threat to exercise physical force against the worker, in a workplace, that could cause physical injury to the worker.

"worker" means any of the following, but does not include an inmate of a correctional institution or like institution or facility who participates inside the institution or facility in a work project or rehabilitation program:

1. A person who performs work or supplies services for monetary compensation.

2. A secondary school student who performs work or supplies services for no monetary compensation under a work experience program authorized by the school board that operates the school in which the student is enrolled.

3. A person who performs work or supplies services for no monetary compensation under a program approved by a college of applied arts and technology, university, career college or other post-secondary institution..

4. Repealed. [2017, c. 22, Sch. 1, s. 71]

5. Such other persons as may be prescribed who perform work or supply services to an employer for no monetary compensation;

(2) For the purposes of this Act and the regulations, a ship being manufactured or under repair shall be deemed to be a project.

(3) An owner does not become a constructor by virtue only of the fact that the owner has engaged an architect, engineer or other person solely to oversee quality control at a project.

(4) A reasonable action taken by an employer or supervisor relating to the management and direction of workers or the workplace is not workplace harassment.

[S.O. 1993, c. 27, Sch.; 1994, c. 24, s. 35; 1994, c. 25, s. 83; 1997, c. 16, s. 2; 1998, c. 8, s. 49; 2009, c. 23, s. 1; c. 33, Sch. 20, s. 3; 2011, c. 11, s. 1; 2014, c. 10, Sch. 4, s. 1; 2016, c. 2, Sch. 4, s. 1; 2016, c. 37, s. 1; 2017, c. 22, Sch. 1, s. 71; 2017, c. 25, Sch. 9, s. 104; 2021, c. 34, Sch. 15, s. 1; 2023, c. 9, Sch. 29, s. 14]

Workplace Violence and Harassment

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT

Section 1 Definitions

CCOHS Resources

IHSA Resources

Workplace Violence and Harassment

Summary

Legislation

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT

Section 1 Definitions

Resources

CCOHS Resources

IHSA Resources