The Government of Saskatchewan recently introduced changes to legislation governing workplace health and safety, particularly around violence and harassment.

The biggest change is that the Saskatchewan Employment Act now requires all employers to develop and implement a written policy and prevention plan on violence. Previously, only certain workplaces were required to have a policy and prevention plan. In addition, employers must ensure that all instances of violence and harassment in the workplace are investigated.

New clauses also specify that employers and supervisors have a duty to ensure workers are not exposed to violence in the workplace and clarify that workers must not enact violence against other workers.

The legislative updates include an extensive list of requirements for employer policies on the prevention of violence in the workplace. CUPE encourages locals to work with their health and safety committees to examine existing policy and programs in light of the new legislation. Committees should proactively work with employers to develop strong prevention policies and effective, worker-centric programs that can respond to incidents of violence in an appropriate manner.

CUPE has many resources in our Violence Prevention Kit to assist locals working with their employers to develop effective violence and harassment prevention policies.