Violence in the Workplace

As of June 15, 2010 new workplace safety rules came into effect in Ontario.  These rules are the result of years of lobbying by the families of two Southwestern Ontario women who murdered by co-workers.

These changes come at the end of a long fight by the families of Lori Dupont and Theresa Vince.  Dupont, 36, was killed by her ex-boyfriend, Dr. Marc Daniel, in 2005 at Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital in Windsor, Ont., where they both worked.  The hospital was aware Daniel had been harassing Dupont and that the situation was getting worse, but it did not discipline him.  Theresa Vince was shot in the face and killed in Chatham in 1996 by a boss who had sexually harassed her for more than a year and against whom she had filed a harassment complaint.

Under Bill 168 all employers across the province, whether they have two people working for them or 2,000, must have a plan to deal with workplace harassment and violence.  This includes all forms of violence.  Bill 168 is not limited to domestic violence spilling over into the workplace; it also addresses violence between co-workers and violence that employees might face during the course of the duties.

This has profound implications for EMS.  Paramedics are constantly being called into unknown situations with the potential for violence.  This violence can come from bystanders, families and the patient themselves.  The violence can be the result of aggression or even be an effect of the very medical condition the paramedic has been called upon to address (i.e. diabetics, post-ictal, psych, overdoses etc.).

Bill 168 requires all services to address these potentials for violence in the workplace.  Employers are required to have a plan in effect that address how they will address this violence and they are also required to provide training to protect their employees from this violence.