ONTARIO FEDERATION OF LABOUR VIOLENCE IN THE WORKPLACE REGULATION CAMPAIGN

Violence in the Workplace

Violence is an act of aggression which produces damaging or hurtful results.  This encompasses all forms of physical violence such as grabbing, punching, kicking, stabbing, and shooting.  Verbal, emotional and psychological abuse that some people engage in, and others are subjected to, every day of their lives are acts of violence. Bullying and acts intended to humiliate workers are also acts of violence which can result in psychological injuries or escalate to physical violence if not dealt with early.

Violence takes many forms, and operates at different levels. Some injure workers physically, others psychologically. For more information on violence in the workplace see the WHSC factsheet Workplace Violence: Beyond the Physical.

As far back as 1950 the Joint ILO/WHO Committee on Occupational Health defined occupational health as: the promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations… A half century later Canadian society still has a long way to go to meet these goals.

In some cases domestic violence can follow a worker into the workplace to become violence in the workplace. These acts of violence are typically committed by men against women. Frontline workers who provide services in health care, education, and social services are predominantly women and therefore it is predominately women who become the victims of violence in these sectors. It is in these same sectors that the employers try to convince workers that violence is just a part of the job. Workers and their unions have argued that violence is not a part of our job description.