Employers Must Address Workplace Violence
May 26, 2005
Canada ranks in the top five (with France, Argentina, Romania, and England) for
workplace violence in the form of assaults and sexual harassment, says Glenn French,
president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Initiative on Workplace
Violence. Speaking at an Employee Assistance Program Association of Toronto (EAPAT)
breakfast seminar on managing workplace violence, French said despite this ranking,
Canadian employers have all but sheltered themselves from workplace violence and
it’s time for them to address this growing issue. French says employers should
take concrete steps to protect employees from violence and aggressive acts inflicted
by customers, co-workers, students, and anyone else in the sphere of the organization
as part of an overall safety plan. To ignore the potential of violence in any
form runs the risk of lawsuits, human rights challenges, occupational health and
safety violations, lost production time, decreased moral, and unnecessary turnover.