Guide to Violence Prevention in the Work Place

3. Guide to the regulatory requirements

3.3 Training

Section 20.10 of the Regulations

  1. The employer shall provide information, instruction and training on the factors that contribute to work place violence that are appropriate to the work place of each employee exposed to work place violence or a risk of work place violence.
  2. The employer shall provide information, instruction and training:
    1. before assigning to an employee any new activity for which a risk of work place violence has been identified;
    2. when new information on work place violence becomes available;and
    3. at least every three years.
  3. The information, instruction and training shall include the following:
    1. the nature and extent of work place violence and how employees may be exposed to it;
    2. the communication system established by the employer to inform employees about work place violence;
    3. information on what constitutes work place violence and on the means of identifying the factors that contribute to work place violence;
    4. the work place violence prevention measures that have been developed under sections 20.3 to 20.6; and
    5. the employer's procedures for reporting on work place violence or the risk of work place violence.
  4. At least once every three years and in either of the following circumstances, the employer shall review and update, if necessary, the information, instruction and training provided:
    1. when there is a change in respect of the risk of work place violence; or
    2. when new information on the risk of work place violence becomes available.
  5. The employer shall maintain signed records, in paper or electronic form, on the information, instruction and training provided to each employee for a period of two years after the date on which an employee ceases to perform an activity that has a risk of work place violence associated with it.

Explanation

This section involves the transfer of knowledge and skills. The employer has to gather all the information on the factors that contribute to WPV that are appropriate to the work place and transfer that information to the employees through guidelines to enhance their knowledge on WPV. If there are any skills that employees must learn to prevent or avoid WPV, they must be trained in these skills.

The employer must provide the information, guidelines and training every three years, and it should include, at a minimum, the contents of the work place violence policy. The employer must monitor for new hazards and their impact on employees, and provide appropriate information, guidelines and training to employees as soon as new information becomes available. Identification of training needs is key in preventing violence in the work place.

Training is essential when striving for a violence-free work place as it raises awareness and educates employees. With increased awareness and knowledge, employees will know what to do if involved in violence in the work place and can contribute to preventing it from occurring. Prevention is especially important, as there are often warning signs leading up to incidents of WPV. If the employees cannot be trained all at once, the priority should go to training for employees who are considered to face a higher risk of work place violence.

A sample employee survey that may be used to obtain basic information on the employees' understanding of the violence prevention program in their work place is provided in Appendix B.

Confirmation of training

Whenever information, guidelines and training is provided, the employer must acknowledge in writing that it took place, and employees must also acknowledge in writing that they have received it. In many cases, a simple report such as the one presented on the next page is all that is required.

Training Report

Course title: Conflict resolution

Brief course description: Resolving client complaints and diffusing aggressive conflicts

Attendees
No Name Signature PIN Department/Section
1 Thomas Fisher 234 Warehouse
2 Kim Hasley 40 Administration
3 Paul Duchesneau 119 Shop
4
5
6
7
8
9

Signature of the person responsible for training:
William Brown

Date: 03/04/09
Date of training: 03/04/09

The Training Report contains the title of the course; a brief description of the course intent; dates of training that were given; the names of the attendees; their Personal Identification Number; their work unit; and their signature. The training officer dates and signs off the report.

Footer

Date Modified:
2012-10-12