Workplace Violence Prevention Policy

Purpose

Canadian All Care College (“CACC”) provides a violence-free learning and working environment. An act of violence against any college community member or public member will not be tolerated. This policy applies to all activities carried out on CACC property, including virtual environments. All violent incidents are taken seriously and dealt with appropriately and confidentially. The College may take assistance from law enforcement agencies to make a final decision.

Scope

This policy will apply to all employees and students of CACC, societies and associations, contractors, service providers, researchers, and visitors, including invitees, guests, or persons who have an ongoing connection to the institution while on campus.

Definitions

Workplace violence is any act in which a person is abused, threatened, intimidated, or assaulted during employment or learning. Specific behaviours may include but are not limited to:

Hitting or shoving an individual.
Threatening harm to an individual or their family, friends, associates, or property.
The intentional destruction or threat of destruction of the College property.
Making harassing or threatening telephone calls, letters, emails, or other forms of written or electronic communications.
Intimidating or attempting to compel an employee/student to do wrongful acts.
Stalking someone with malicious intent and making a credible threat to intimidate the other person of their safety.

Policy

Violent actions on the College property or at approved activities occurring off property will not be tolerated or ignored. The College will use reasonable legal, administrative, and disciplinary procedures to protect the workplace from violence and reasonably protect employees, students, other members of the College community, and the public.

Possession of or use of a dangerous weapon is prohibited on CACC property. A dangerous weapon is an instrument capable of causing bodily harm or can be used to harm or intimidate another person or create a situation for the safety of another person.

The objectives of this policy are to achieve the following:

To ensure that individuals understand that acts of violence are severe offences for which the necessary action will be taken.
To protect witnesses of workplace violence to access any assistance to defend themselves and pursue a complaint.
To reduce the potential for violence in and around CACC.
To foster a learning and working environment based on respect for one another.
To diminish the negative consequences for employees and students who experience or encounter violence on campus.
To ensure that disciplinary action is administered where appropriate.
To create an environment free of reprisal for reporting occurrences.

Responsibilities

The College is responsible for the following:

Establishing and advancing a safe working and learning environment, where possible.
Investigating incidents of workplace violence promptly.
Taking appropriate action to resolve workplace violence incidents.

Directors/Managers are responsible for the following:

Assessing emergencies.
Initiating the investigation process, and
Deciding on an appropriate response.

Where employee/student safety issues are of concern, Directors/Managers will administer appropriate disciplinary action if employees or students have committed acts of violence.

All employees and students are responsible for the following:

Maintaining a safe work environment;
Not initiating any acts of violence and reaching out for assistance to solve personal issues that may lead to acts of workplace violence;
Reporting dangerous or threatening situations that occur in the workplace;
Reporting incidents that occur outside of the workplace directly impact workplace safety.

Visitors and Contractors

The College will act against visitors and apply appropriate remedies (e.g. barring them from campus) if they violate this policy. Visitors can also initiate a complaint under this policy. Contractors must comply with this policy, including cooperating with investigations to avoid penalties or cancellation of the contract.

Malicious Complaints

Complaints found to be made maliciously bogus may result in the discipline of an employee, a student, and a member of the College community. The appropriate punishment will be determined in the context of the seriousness of the violation and the student’s, employee’s or member’s history with the College.

Redress

The College will devise an appropriate remedial plan taking into account the individual circumstances of the victim. The plan may include but is not limited to, remedies such as:

increased safety surveillance
receipt of a written apology
cessation of offending behaviour
an offer of a training/course
review of academic standing or marking
ongoing counselling

Sanctions/Corrective Action

Disciplinary action/sanctions will take into account the severity of the policy’s breach and the individual circumstances of the respondent. Corrective actions or sanctions may include, but are not limited to, the following:

non-disciplinary counseling/education/correction
reprimand and warning (verbal or written)
section, job, or program transfer
the requirement to provide an apology to the victim (verbal or written)
the behavioural contract, which specifies certain behaviour with which the party must comply
transfer
demotion
suspension
dismissal (i.e. termination or expulsion)
barring contractors from future bids
no trespass notices

Procedures

In case of an emergency, call 911

For non-emergency situations, contact one of the CACC personnel, and they will investigate and complete an Occurrence Report and respond, investigate and take the immediate measures necessary for reported acts of violence and for taking reasonable steps to ensure the general safety of individuals associated with the occurrence and others that may be affected.

Any violence report will be investigated immediately and confidentially, and appropriate action will be taken, where possible, to protect the employee/student from further violence.

Informing the College Community

The College is committed to publicizing this policy and all acts of violence that affect the entire community. This may be accomplished in a variety of ways noted below, but not limited to:

Campus watch security alerts
Voice mail
College website

Posting this policy in a conspicuous place in the workplace

In case of any disputes, updated printed copies of CACC policies will take precedence over the policies published on our website.