MISSION

 

Rawden Cleaning Service is committed to providing a safe, healthy, and supportive work environment by treating our employees and clients with respect, fairness and sensitivity.

Violence and harassment in the workplace can have devastating effects on employees’ quality of life and organizational productivity. Workplace violence is:

• the attempt to exercise physical force by a person against a worker, in a workplace, that causes or could cause physical injury to the worker

• a statement of behavior that is reasonable for a worker to interpret as a threat to exercise physical force against a worker, in a workplace, that could cause physical injury to the worker.

Workplace harassment means engaging in a course of vexatious comments or conduct against a worker in a workplace that is reasonably to be known to be unwelcome.

 

Purpose of the Policy

 Rawden Cleaning Service Inc. is committed to preventing workplace violence and harassment. This policy defines behavior that constitutes workplace violence and harassment and explains the procedures for reporting or resolving such issues.

Rawden Cleaning Service Inc. is committed to providing a working environment free of violence and harassment by familiarizing all workplace parties with related terminology as well as their individual responsibilities for prevention and corrective action.

Policy Statement

 The management of Rawden Cleaning Service Inc. recognizes the potential for violence and harassment in the workplace. We will therefore make every reasonable effort to identify all potential source of such risk to eliminate or minimize them through our workplace violence and harassment prevention program. Rawden Cleaning Service Inc. will not tolerate any type of violence or harassment within the workplace. Rawden Cleaning Service Inc. is committed to allotting whatever time, attention and authority necessary to ensure a safe and healthy working environment for all employees and clients to whom we provide a service to.

 

Definitions Associated with Workplace Violence and Harassment 

 

• Physical assault: is any physical force or threat of physical force to create fear and control another person.

 Some examples include: hitting, blocking, shoving, choking, slapping or biting, or pulling hair; “caring” for the victim in an abusive way, threats of violence, and using a weapon or other objects to threaten, hurt or kill.

 

• Sexual assault: is any unwanted sexual act done by one person to another.

Examples include: kissing or forcing/coercing the person into kissing; touching the person’s body with or without clothes on; forcing/coercing the person into sexual intercourse; attempting to remove clothing; taking advantage of a position, trust or authority to get sex; threatening harm to someone else if the person does not agree to do any of these things.

 

• Sexual harassment: is often interpreted as objectionable comments or conduct of a “sexual” nature.

However, sexual harassment, in the broader context of unequal treatment based on gender, may refer to instances where behavior is not overtly sexual in nature, but is related to the person’s gender, and demeans or causes personal humiliation or embarrassment to the recipient.

Examples include: degrading words, rude jokes or sexual comments, name calling, physical contact, sexual demands, unwanted kissing or touching of a sexual nature, and insulting remarks about a person’s sexual orientation, race, culture, ability, and/or income.

• Threat (verbal or written): is communicated intent to inflict physical or other harm on any person or to property some unlawful act. A direct threat is clear and explicit communication distinctly indicating that the potential offender intends to do harm.

• Verbal/Emotional/Psychological abuse: is a pattern of behavior that makes someone feel worthless, flawed, unloved, or endangered. Like other forms of abuse, it is based on power and control. Examples include: swearing, put-downs/name calling.

• Workplace Bullying: repeated and persistent negative acts towards one or more individuals, which involve a perceived power imbalance and create hostile work environment.

 

Roles and Responsibilities of Workplace Parties

    Employer: 

• Ensure that measures and procedures in the violence and harassment prevention program are carried out.
• Hold management accountable to responding to and resolving complaints of violence.
• Integrate safe behavior into day-to-day operations.
• Investigate all reports or threats of violence/harassment in a prompt, objective and sensitive way.
• Take corrective action.
• Provide response measures.
• Facilitate medical attention and support to those involved directly or indirectly.
• Ensure any deaths or critical injuries are reported to a Ministry of Labour.
• Ensure a report goes to WSIB of all accidents where a worker loses time from work , requires healthcare , earns less than regular pay for regular work, requires modified work at less than regular pay or performs modified work at regular pay more than seven days.

 

Managers / Supervisors: 

• Enforce policy and procedures and monitor worker compliance.
• Investigate all workplace violence.
• Facilitate medical attention for employee(s) as required.
• Debrief those in the involved in the incident directly or indirectly.
• Track and analyze incidents for trending and prevention initiatives.
• Issue a report to the employer and WSIB on all lost-time accidents where a worker requires healthcare, earns less than regular pay or performs modified work at regular pay for more than seven days. 

 

Employees: 

• Participate in education and training programs so you can respond suitably to any incident of workplace violence or harassment.
• Understand and comply with the violence and harassment prevention policy.
• Report all incidents or injuries to your manager immediately. Complete the Workplace and Violence Incident Report.
• Inform your management about your concerns regarding the potential for violence/harassment in the workplace.
• Seek support when confronted with violence/harassment or threats of violence.
• Get medical attention.
• At least once a year, participate in a review of the workplace violence and harassment prevention program.

 

Reporting and Investigation 

 

• Workers are to report all violence-related incidents or hazards to their manager. This report can be made confidentially at the employee’s request. However, sharing information to ensure the safety of others and prevent recurrence may be necessary (e.g., contents of a police report).

• The manager receiving the report investigates it and ensures that measures are taken to safeguard employees and decrease the violence and harassment.

• The employer reports all injuries to the Ministry of Labour and WSIB as required by the Occupational Health and Safety Act and Workplace and Safety and Insurance Act.

 

Response Procedures: 

• Using the incident investigation form, the manager documents all reports of workplace violence/harassment, hazards and measures taken to address them.
• If the resolution of the incident is beyond the authority of a mangers, she/he must make the President aware of the report.
• Management reviews all incident reports, monitors trends and makes recommendations to the President for prevention and enhancements to the workplace violence and harassment prevention program.
• The President reviews reports of workplace violence/harassment and ensure that actions are taken.
• The manager who investigates the reported incident warn all staff who might be affected about dangerous situations. They also tell the reporting employee about the outcome of the investigation to help minimize the chance of similar incidents.

 

Support for Employees Affected by Workplace Violence and Harassment 

Management will respond promptly, assess the situation and ensure that these interventions are followed:

• facilitation of medical attention
• referrals to community agencies, treating practitioner and employee assistance program if available
• completion of incident reports, WSIB reports, reports to Ministry of Labor
• reporting to police (as required)

 

Risk Assessment 

Management (with worker involvement) assesses workplace violence and hazards in all jobs, and in the workplace as whole. It reviews risk assessments annually, as well as when new jobs are created, or job descriptions are changed substantially.

Education

New employees will receive orientation on the workplace violence and harassment prevention program. In addition, employees will receive an annual review of the program’s components.

Accountability

All workplace parties are accountable for complying with policy, program, measures and procedures related to workplace violence.

Records

All records of reports and investigations of workplace violence and harassment’s are kept for five years.

Policy Review

This workplace violence and harassment prevention policy and program will be reviewed annually.