Workplace Violence and Workplace Harassment Policy
[INSERT ORGANIZATION NAME]
Policy version: [VERSION]
Date approved: [DATE]
Next review due: [DATE + 1 YEAR]
How to use this template: replace every [BRACKETED] item, delete this note, and have the policy approved and signed by the highest ranking person at your organization. Ontario requires these policies to be reviewed at least annually. This template is a starting point drafted for small Ontario employers – it is general information, not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for the programs that must sit behind it.

1. Statement of commitment
[ORGANIZATION NAME] is committed to providing a work environment free of workplace violence and workplace harassment. Everyone at [ORGANIZATION NAME] – employees, supervisors, managers, contractors, and visitors – is expected to uphold this policy, and everyone is entitled to its protection.

We will not tolerate workplace violence or workplace harassment from any person, and we will not tolerate reprisal against a person who reports an incident or participates in an investigation in good faith.

This policy is posted in the workplace and is reviewed at least once a year.

2. What these terms mean
These definitions follow the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA), section 1 and Part III.0.1.

•	Workplace violence means the exercise of physical force by a person against a worker in a workplace that causes or could cause physical injury; an attempt to exercise such force; or a statement or behaviour that a worker could reasonably interpret as a threat to exercise such force.
•	Workplace harassment means engaging in a course of vexatious comment or conduct against a worker in a workplace that is known or ought reasonably to be known to be unwelcome. It includes workplace sexual harassment.
•	Reasonable management action – reasonable direction of work or the workplace by a manager or supervisor, including performance management and discipline conducted reasonably – is not workplace harassment.

3. Examples
The following are examples, not a complete list. Conduct can breach this policy whether it happens in person, in writing, by phone, or online, and whether it happens on our premises or anywhere else our people are working.

•	Hitting, pushing, throwing an object at, or otherwise physically striking a person.
•	Threatening a person, directly or by implication, including “joking” threats.
•	Repeated humiliating or demeaning comments about a person or their work.
•	Unwelcome sexual comments, advances, or the display of sexually offensive material.
•	Bullying, intimidation, or deliberate social exclusion of a coworker.
•	Comments or conduct targeting a person because of a ground protected by the Ontario Human Rights Code.

4. Responsibilities
•	The employer will assess the risk of workplace violence, maintain the programs that implement this policy, provide information and instruction to every worker, investigate incidents and complaints, and review this policy at least annually.
•	Supervisors will take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances to protect workers, act on incidents and complaints they become aware of – including ones nobody formally reported – and never participate in or condone conduct this policy prohibits.
•	Workers will follow this policy, report incidents and complaints, and cooperate with investigations.

5. How to report
Report an incident or complaint to [NAME AND TITLE OF DESIGNATED CONTACT] at [EMAIL] or [PHONE]. If your complaint involves that person, report instead to [NAME AND TITLE OF ALTERNATE CONTACT] at [EMAIL] or [PHONE].

Reports may be made verbally or in writing. If there is an immediate threat to anyone's safety, call 911 first, then notify [DESIGNATED CONTACT] as soon as it is safe to do so.

6. What happens after a report
•	We will treat every report seriously and act on it promptly.
•	An investigation appropriate in the circumstances will be conducted by [NAME/ROLE, or an impartial external investigator where the complaint involves an owner or senior manager].
•	Information will be kept confidential except as necessary to investigate, take corrective action, or as the law requires.
•	The worker who reported and, where they are a worker of ours, the person the report was about will each be informed in writing of the results of the investigation and of any corrective action taken.
•	Where this policy has been breached, corrective action will follow, up to and including termination of employment or of a contract.

7. No reprisal
No person will be penalized, disciplined, or otherwise disadvantaged for reporting an incident in good faith or for participating in an investigation. Reprisal is itself a breach of this policy and is prohibited by the OHSA.

8. Domestic violence and workplace-specific risks
If we become aware that domestic violence is likely to expose a worker to physical injury in the workplace, we will take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances to protect that worker. Workers should raise any such risk with [DESIGNATED CONTACT] in confidence.

Our workplace violence risk assessment considers [DESCRIBE: handling cash, working alone or after hours, contact with the public, working off-site, and any history of violence in this workplace or in similar workplaces].

9. Approval
Approved by: [NAME], [TITLE]

Signature: ______________________________    Date: ______________

Two things this policy does not do on its own. First, the OHSA requires programs to implement these policies – including a violence risk assessment and a written harassment complaint and investigation procedure – and those must be developed and maintained separately, in consultation with your joint health and safety committee or health and safety representative where you have one. Second, a policy nobody has read proves nothing: you must provide every worker with information and instruction on it, and you should keep a dated record of who received it and which version they saw.