June 12th, 2010 by Rene Beaulieu CPP
Well the time for most Ontarians is now here. Bill 168 will take effect on Tuesday of this week and yet most small to medium sized companies have no clue that they need to put measures in place in order to be compliant. This week I read the article below and was reminded of how This Workplace Violence is fast becoming a global issue that society has decide is not going to tolerate.Bill 168 in Ontario Canada is just one small example of what measures a motivated people can achieve.
Workplace Violence: New Regulation, Threats, & Best Practices
Security Director’s Report (05/10) Vol. 2010, No. 5,
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) currently is pushing for tougher workplace violence regulations, while at the same time experts are calling for a different “zero” approach, and the judgment of line employees is being tested like never before. Organizations adopt zero-tolerance policies because “they sound good,” says Barry Nixon, executive director for the National Institute for the Prevention of Workplace Violence Inc. Unfortunately, these policies do little to eliminate the issue because they tend to be reactive — “this is what we will do” — rather than preventive, Nixon says. Speaking at the iSecurity online trade show and conference in March, Nixon called for a “zero-incidents” approach instead, because it emphasizes the prevention of unwanted behavior rather than detailing how the organization will handle it after the fact. In addition to tweaking policy language, Nixon recommended addressing workplace violence in the interview stage along with drug screening. While many potential employees expect a drug and background check, Nixon implored companies to similarly issue a proclamation to applicants that workplace violence is not tolerated. Most importantly, a zero-incidents approach — rather than zero tolerance — focuses security personnel on activities it needs to carry out at many points along the prevention continuum. These include: detection by identifying and anticipating possible problematic scenarios before issues actually surface; prevention by taking reports and signs seriously; and protection by putting the response plan into motion and taking immediate action.
Web Link
Tags: Best Practices, Bill 168, OSHA, prevention, workplace violence
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May 26th, 2010 by Rene Beaulieu CPP
Last week there was a news event about some young man in high school that took his own life after reportedly being the victim of ongoing bullying. The school board and high profile community members set up a task force to examine what can be done about this ongoing issue in schools today. All this, just on the heels of this new Bill 168 workplace violence and harassment legislation that is to take effect next month.
Rather than gather more adults and so called experts to see what can be put in place to deal with these issues, the task force should be made up of mostly students and the primary focus should be on HOW do we empower students to resolve these sorts of conflicts themselves. As the old saying goes “Give the man (student) a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach him/her how to fish you feed them for life”. The fact that Bill 168 and similar legislation has been needed, is evidence that students and young adults were never taught how to fish for themselves.
As a society that is more and more reliant on technology and less reliant on working with one another, schools should adopt mandatory effective communications skills. Books like Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends And Influence People” or Dr. George Thompson’s “Verbal Judo” need to become part of the curriculum.
You see, since the game boy generation, our kids have been taught that in order to win at “the game” you have no time to think; you simply need to react as quickly as possible and faster than the game. That has created a generation of society that goes through life reacting before thinking of what the consequences might be. We give our kids violence simulator and take away many of the social programs from our school curriculum and then act all shocked when they develop violent or aggressive behaviour.
There is no law, no matter how strict, that will ever resolve the issue or workplace violence and harassment. The only way to resolve the issue is to empower tomorrow’s generation with communication and social education skills they need to survive in this shrinking world.
Rene Beaulieu CPP
SECURaGLOBE Solutions Inc
www.securaglobe.com
Tags: assessment, Bill 168, bill 168 compliance, corporate security services firm, Government Legislation, Human Resources, risk assessment, School Bullying, SECURaGLOBE, security risk
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May 15th, 2010 by Rene Beaulieu CPP
Based Upon Comments from Labour Minister Peter Fonseca there will be no grace period granted for compliance on bill 168.
In a recent response to a post on Linked In senior consultant for Beyond Rewards Inc Lynne Bard posted
“You are correct in that the Ministry is not providing any extensions on this one. All our ducks better be in a row, because they are visiting all businesses, not just ones with history of incidents. In addition - new business registration info as of next year will automatically be sent to the MOL THey will then be making a visit to the new organizations.”
SECURaGLOBE has been doing assessments for the Ontario government for close to Two years and when we saw all that was involved and the time it took to deliver a quality assessment we began developing a tool to help
companies comply with the assessment part as well as automate the policies.
With less than 30 days left before enforcement all companies need to get started if they want to avoid any penalties.
For more on our assessment tool please visit www.securaglobe.com/wpvcoach
Tags: assessment, Bill 168, bill 168 compliance, Government Legislation, Human Resources, risk assessment, risk assessments, SECURaGLOBE, security risk management, site specific assessment, site specific assessments, threat risk assessments, treat risk assessment, workplace harassment, Workplace Safety, workplace violence, workplace violence assessment, workplace violence assessments
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May 7th, 2010 by Rene Beaulieu CPP
I was just reading the May June issue of HR Professional magazine and came across an article on page 11 Leadership Matters Future Implications Of Bill 168 again the writer has missed the fact that under the new bill each and every employer will need to do a site specific assessment before they can prepare any policies regarding workplace violence and workplace harassment. This type of oversight by such a prominent magazine can causing allot of confusion and lack of understanding in the industry. Most HR departments have policies or are developing the policies without doing a threat risk assessment and it is sure to make them non compliant with the law. I have posted the Ministry of Labours document that was released in early April in order to attempt to clarify the requirements under bill 168.
mol-workplace-violence-and-harassment-understanding-the-law
Tags: assessment, Bill 168, bill 168 compliance, threat risk assessments, training" />, treat risk assessment, workplace harassment, workplace violence
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April 28th, 2010 by Rene Beaulieu CPP
Bill 168 is now law and will take effect on June 15 2010 yet most businesses do not understand that all businesses are required to take specific steps including doing SITE SPECIFIC ASSESSMENT of each workplace to be compliant with the new legislation. Simply developing a workplace violence policy without a site specific assessment will not cut it. That means every coffee shop, gas station, big box retailer, and manufacture regardless of their size every employer must assess the risk of workplace violence that may arise from that specific workplace site. Things such as layout & design of the workplace, geographic location of the workplace, and the nature of the workplace, such as work conditions and activities that may increase the risk of workplace violence. The Ministry of Labour makes it clear that simple circumstances such as handling cash, public or community contact, working with unstable or volatile people, working alone or working late nights or early mornings, may increase the risk of workplace violence. How will employees know if their employer is complaint with this new law? The law also requires that employers report the results of that workplace violence assessment back to their workers.
An electronic copy of the Ministry of Labor document can be found at
http://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/hs/pubs/index.php
If you would like one of our experts to assist you in becoming compliant with this new legislation before June 15th please visit www.securaglobe.com/vsdcoach
Tags: assessment, Bill 168, bill 168 compliance, training" />, workplace harassment, workplace violence
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September 22nd, 2009 by Rene Beaulieu CPP
Violence in the workplace is quickly becoming the buzz word of the time. Most governments are now considering legislation that will force companies to deal with these issues in order to improve workplace safety. Take bill 168 in the province of Ontario Canada that is currently before the legislator.
The Bill under the health and safety act requires an employer to assess the risk of workplace violence that may arise from the nature of the workplace, the type of work or the conditions of work. the assessment must take into account common risks at other similar workplaces and risks specific to the employer’s workspace. A copy of the risk assessment and its results must be provided to the joint health and safety committee or health and safety representative. If there is no committee or representative, employees must be advised how to obtain copies of the assessment and its results and it must be provided to workers on request.
A good strategy to stay ahead of this pending legislation should include the following
- An overview and understanding of the legislation and or pending legislation that emphasis key components and legal duties of your organization.
- Recognized and approved best security practices for conducting workplace violence risk assessments
- Putting workplace violence in perspective with other security issues in your organization
- The categories of workplace violence and how each one requires different mitigation actions
- Steps to creating a court defensible workplace violence program
- Workplace Violence Risk Assessment – more than checklists
- Written and implementation plan of effective policies and procedures that work
- Training programs – what works and what doesn’t – getting buy-in from the beginning
- Incident management – the multidisciplinary team approach
- Mitigating the impact of incidents to minimize the impact on your operations
- Case management – how proper recording and analyzing incident reports can enable you to take proactive preventive steps to prevent future incidents
- Supporting the victims of workplace violence to minimize the effect on the workplace
There is little doubt that given the current stresses we are all exposed to, employers need to create a safer workplace for its employees and if it takes government intervention to do so than count me in as a supporter.
Rene Beaulieu CPP
President
SECURaGLOBE Solutions Inc
rene@securaglobe.com
www.securaglobe.com
1-866-767-4111
Tags: Government Legislation, Human Resources, security risk management, Workplace Safety
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