Violence prevention for Nova Scotia employers
Nova Scotia employers have a responsibility to provide a workplace free of harassment as part of their requirements in Section 82 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act Reg. 209/2007 which took effect April 1, 2008.
There are three main requirements for Employers to meet.
- Prepare a written workplace violence prevention statement;
- Either take and document reasonable measures to minimize and, to the extent possible, eliminate the risk of violence in the workplace, or
- Adopt a code of practice on violence in the workplace published by the Director governing the primary business conducted at the employer’s workplace
Violence Risk Assessment
An employer must conduct a violence risk assessment for each of their workplaces in accordance with Section 82 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act Reg. 209/2007 to determine if there is a risk of violence in the workplace and prepare a written report concerning the violence risk assessment detailing the extent and nature of any risk identified by the assessment.
Preparing a Violence Prevention Policy
There are resources available on the Nova Scotia government website to assist you in preparing a Violence Prevention Policy if you do not already have one. If you already have a policy it is a good idea to compare it to the samples available to ensure you have covered key points such as defining what is meant by Violent Behaviour. The link to this website is at the end of this article.
Implementing a Violence Prevention Policy
Once you have developed a policy for your organization the next step is to implement the policy. This step typically involves ensuring the policy is posted and every person in the organization is aware of the existence of the policy.
This would include providing details on what to do in the event you are involved in an incident, complaints or threats of violence. In some cases you may have a form for people to submit an incident, complaint or threat of violent behaviour and it would be clear for all employees how this process works for reporting an incident, complaint or threat as well as the procedure for resolving an incident, complaint or threat once reported.
Informing and Educating Workers on Violence Prevention
With a written policy in place, and a clear process documented, you can now take the step of educating employees on the details of the policy to ensure an understanding of what work-place violence is and what it is not, what to do in the event they are involved in an incident of violence.
Ideally this step is more than just a one-time action as the more frequently we are exposed to information and ideas the greater impact they have on our thoughts and long term behaviour.
For more information on Nova Scotia Violence Prevention contact:
info@SafeAndCertified.com
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Nova Scotia Violence Prevention Training $5 per Person
Yes you can train your employees for just $5 per person. This is for companies and organizations including volunteers.
If you are already a SafeAndCertified.com customer we can enable this course in your existing account – email info@SafeAndCertified.com
If you are a new customer we can create a company account – complete the Express Training Request form to get started.
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