The Government of Canada is moving ahead with its new violence and harassment regulations, which replace portions of the Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations. The rules have now been published in Canada Gazette Part II and will come into force on January 1, 2021.
These new requirements will apply to all federally regulated workplaces, including federally regulated trucking companies.
Over the next few weeks, the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) will be going over the final regulations in detail. However, once the new rules come into force, we know that carriers will need to do the following to comply with the new regulations:
- Prepare the workplace harassment and violence prevention policy working jointly with:
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- the policy committee
- the workplace committee, or
- the health and safety representative
- Assess the risk of workplace harassment and violence;
- Inform and train employees, and take training themselves;
- When an incident of harassment or violence is reported, respond within seven days;
- Keep records on every incident of harassment and violence in the workplace and report annually to the Labour Program;
- Implement corrective measures in response to the investigation report of an investigator to prevent future occurrences of harassment and violence.
Trucking HR Canada (THRC) and CTA have been working on a joint solution to assit carriers in meeting their training requirements under the new regulations. Trucking sector-specific training resources and other employer and employee support resources will be forthcoming and be ready in time for the January 2021 start date. Trucking HR Canada is currently developing modules for all three applicable training audiences, helping carriers to meet the new requirements and transition into the new regulatory landscape.
More details on these CTA-THRC resources will be available through the provincial associations (APTA, QTA, OTA, MTA, STA, AMTA, BCTA) over the coming months.
