What is Workplace Violence?
• Physical attack
• Verbal abuse and Intimidation
• Harassment
• Verbal or written threats (Direct, Conditional, Veiled)
• Threatening behavior (shaking a fist, throwing items

We will discuss Harassment in a few minutes, as it is enforceable
under the Human Rights Act and the Human Rights Commission.
Any harassment that includes any of the above, may be
enforceable under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Criminal Code.

Under the OHSA, workplace violence means
• the exercise of physical force by a person against a worker, in a
workplace, that causes or could cause physical injury to the
worker;
• an attempt to exercise physical force against a worker, in a
workplace, that could cause physical injury to the worker; or
• a statement or behaviour that it is reasonable for a worker to
interpret as a threat to exercise physical force against the
worker, in a workplace, that could cause physical injury to the
worker.