CANADA: Government of Ontario Unveils Workplace Harassment and Workplace Violence Action Plan
On March 6, 2015, Premier Kathleen Wynne unveiled a new action plan to combat sexual violence and harassment across Ontario, including in the workplace. The action plan, entitled It’s Never Okay: An Action Plan to Stop Sexual Violence and Harassment, follows an announcement by Premier Wynne in December 2014 announcing new initiatives to raise awareness of sexual violence and harassment, to enhance prevention measures and to combat harassment, violence and discrimination on the basis of sex. The new legislation will set out explicit requirements for employers to investigate and address workplace harassment, including sexual harassment complaints in the workplace, and include an obligation for employers to make ―every reasonable effort‖ to protect workers from harassment, including sexual harassment, in the workplace.
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B.C. Nurses Endure 10 'Code Whites' a Day for Aggression
A CBC investigation has found incidents involving violent or potentially violent patients known as 'code whites' happen at least ten times a day in B.C.'s hospitals. B.C. Nurses Union regional chair Tracy Quewezance says nurses do not have reliable 'duress' paging systems to protect themselves in emergencies. A major investigation is underway in Kamloops, B.C. after a nurse was assaulted on a psychiatric ward at the Hillside Centre in December. Nurses say the patient had a long history of violence that was not clearly documented on his chart. Sandy da Silva with the Interior Health Authority says of the patient assault they were operating with the best information they had at the time, but admits procedures need to change.
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Domestic Violence and the Work-home Divide A recent survey of 8,429 people—most of them unionized workers—by Western University in London, Ont., and the Canadian Labour Congress found 33.6 per cent reported experiencing domestic violence at some point in their lives. And of those people, more than half (53.5 per cent) said at least one instance of abuse happened at or near their workplace. Whether an employer wants to get involved in a domestic situation or not, when things are happening at or near work, it can become a workplace safety issue.
Ontario is one jurisdiction that has specified circumstances when an employer must get involved in domestic violence issues.
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B.C. Nurses Vow to Take Patient Violence to Court Violence against nurses and other health-care workers by patients is a serious problem but the B.C. Nurses‘ Union, tired of waiting for health officials to deal with it, is taking unilateral steps to protect its members. The 42,000-member union announced it will pursue legal action on behalf of any nurse who authorizes it, including pressing charges against the attacker. The union says it has also set up a 24-hour toll-free hotline for nurses to report abuse. Union president Gayle
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