Emerging initiatives
The rising number of violent incidents in the workplace have led to resounding pressure on governments across Canada to amend OH&S legislation to impose broader responsibilities for employers to protect workers from workplace violence. A few recent initiatives and consultations are outlined below. It is fair to assume that numerous jurisdictions, including Ontario, will follow the provinces that already have specific provisions to protect workers from physical and potentially non-physical violence and harassment.

•    Amendments to the Canada Labour Code  
As indicated above, the federal CLC recently added Occupational Health and Safety Regulations. The new Regulations contain specific provisions on the protection of workers against workplace violence. Interestingly, the revised federal legislation contains a broad definition of workplace violence, including “any action, conduct, threat or gesture of a person towards an employee in their workplace that can reasonably be expected to cause harm, injury or illness to that employee”.

•    Role of inquest juries
Incidents of homicide in the workplace have been highly publicized. In each of the above mentioned Ontario cases involving Sears Canada (1996), OC Transpo (1999) or the Hôtel Dieu Grace Hospital (2005), a coroner’s inquest was held. In each inquest, the jury made specific recommendations to the government to adopt or amend OHS legislation to create measures for workplace violence prevention. The families of the workers involved in these tragic matters and others continue to lobby for more significant protection in the workplace, specifically protection in the Ontario OHSA.

•    Ontario MOL targets high-risk workplaces in violence prevention initiatives.
The problem of increasing workplace violence has not gone unnoticed by a number of government regulators. For example, in Ontario there are no OHSA provisions which specifically protect workers from violence, yet in 2007, in a joint effort involving the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) and the Ontario Ministry of Labour, a province-wide workplace violence prevention initiative was commenced. This initiative, which arose out of inspector training on revised Operating Procedures for dealing with workplace violence last fall, authorizes MOL health and safety inspectors to make orders and issue directives to employers in ‘high-risk industries’, either because there is no workplace violence prevention program in place, or because the program is ineffective in some respect.

Employers in Ontario have experienced compliance orders where a complaint or violent incident has arisen. Inquiries and orders, including orders to create violence prevention programs, conduct workplace violence training, conduct workplace violence hazard assessments, have also been made while MOL inspectors are conducting routine inspections.

High profile inquest recommendations and these enforcement initiatives of the Ontario MOL have paved the way to the introduction of Bill 29, discussed above, making the reform of OH&S legislation on workplace violence a particularly hot topic in Ontario. Bill 29 envisages sweeping new responsibilities for employers in Ontario to prevent workplace violence - - by creating policies and procedures, requiring violence risk assessments, and requiring ongoing workplace training.

Due to the pressure created by Bill 29, the Ontario government has released a consultation paper on workplace violence. In a public consultation commencing September 17, 2008, the Ontario government requested input on whether reform of OH&S legislation in Ontario is required in order to effectively prevent workplace violence. The Ontario government has sought input on such matters as whether employers should be required to implement a workplace violence prevention program, whether obligations relating to the prevention of workplace violence should be sector-specific, and whether specific requirements regarding domestic violence in the workplace should be introduced.  

It is only a matter of time before the Ontario OHSA is amended so that Ontario joins the many other jurisdictions with workplace violence-related provisions.


Cheryl Edwards is a former Ontario Ministry of Labour OH&S prosecutor. She now leads Heenan Blaikie’s national OHS and WSIB practice group. You can reach Cheryl at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call her at 416-360-2897 and 416-452-4958.