Violence Prevention Policy

Policy Statement 

[Insert Clinic Name] recognizes violence in the workplace as being the attempted or actual exercise by a person, of any physical force to cause injury to staff, and includes any threatening statement or behaviour which gives staff reasonable cause to believe that they are at risk of injury.

[Insert Clinic Name] is committed to the prevention of workplace violence and will take all reasonable steps to ensure the safety of its staff, including physicians and other clinicians working in the clinic.

All persons associated with [Insert Clinic Name] are expected to conduct themselves in a civil, respectful, cooperative, and non-discriminatory manner. Any threat or act of violence against staff in the course of their duties or against the [Insert Clinic Name] property is not acceptable, and measures will be taken to hold people accountable for these actions and could include police involvement. 

Roles and Responsibilities

1. Physician employer

• Support and promote [Insert Clinic Name]’s commitment to the prevention of violent behaviour and the [Insert Clinic Name]’s violence prevention program.
• Responsible for the implementation and maintenance of the clinic’s violence prevention program. 
• Monitor the violence prevention program by conducting and reviewing risk assessments, training records, incident reports and investigations, and ensuring results are shared with all staff.
• Inform and encourage all staff to report workplace violence, and ensure all staff are aware of how to do so. 

2. Supervisor

• Support and promote [Insert Clinic Name] commitment to violence prevention.
• Inform staff of the nature and extent of the risk(s) from violence in the clinic and act to remedy any hazard related to violence in the clinic. 
• Inform staff of potentially violent individuals and to make arrangements if these individuals enter the clinic.
• Inform and encourage staff to report violent incidents or threats of violence, and ensure staff are aware of how to do so. 
• Provide appropriate violence prevention instruction and training necessary to ensure the health and safety of all staff. 
• Communicate to patients and their family members the clinic’s Patient Code of Conduct while in proximity to, or under the care of, staff of [Insert Clinic Name]. Provide staff access to education and training on the prevention of violence.
• Investigate reported violence incidents with the clinic’s employee health and safety representative, or the employer if no employee representative is required.
• Ensure an up-to-date violence risk assessment has been completed, reviewed, and recommendations are implemented and evaluated as required by the Workers Compensation Act and Occupational Health and Safety Regulation. 
• Participate in workplace inspections and investigations of incidents involving violence.
• Ensure staff receive training appropriate to the recommendations of the risk assessment and past incident investigations.
• Communicate and record all reported incidents of violence to management. 

3. Employee

• Report all threats or incidents of violence, whether injured or not, to their supervisor. 
• Take reasonable care to protect their own health and safety and the safety of others in the clinic.
• Follow job specific safe work procedures outlined in the new employee orientation. 
• Use and wear any required personal protective equipment, devices, or clothing provided by the employer.  
• If applicable, cooperate with the clinic’s worker health and safety representative.

Standards and Procedures 

[Insert Clinic Name] will:

• Promote workplace safety for all staff, patients, and their family members. 
• Include all staff in the development of violence prevention policies and programs. 
• Provide policies and access to educational tools to identify potential situations of violence, de-escalate, or prevent violence, and appropriately respond to violence in the workplace. 
• Ensure a violence risk assessment is conducted (if not done previously) and reviewed annually. Violence risk assessments must be conducted by the employer or supervisor in conjunction with staff who are familiar with the work being performed.
• Ensure the employer or supervisor implements policies, procedures, and work arrangements to eliminate or minimize risks to staff, as identified through the violence risk assessment process. 

Communication of the code of conduct 

Not all clinics will opt to have a code of conduct. If a code of conduct is available: 

• [Insert Clinic Name] will advise patients and their family members about their responsibility to abide by the applicable code of conduct while in the presence of, or receiving care from, [Insert Clinic Name] staff.  
• The code of conduct will be displayed at [Insert Clinic Name] so that it is clearly visible to the visiting public, patients, and their family members. 

Violence prevention training

• Verbal violence related to an emotional or situational crisis will be managed using verbal and non-verbal de-escalation strategies to defuse the situation. Take the free provincial Violence Prevention for Physicians and medical staff course on the Learning Hub.

Reporting incidents of violence 

• All incidents of violence or threats of violence will be reported and documented, whether individuals are injured or not. Staff will report incidents to their supervisor. 
• If any staff member of [Insert Clinic Name] is made aware of any threat to the workplace or public, they will follow the appropriate response mechanisms as outline by [Insert Clinic Name], including notifying the supervisor immediately and calling the police (9-1-1) if there is a weapon present or threats to lives. 

Investigating incidents of violence 

• All threats and incidents of violence must be investigated. Any incident resulting in injury requiring medical treatment, time loss, or any incident with the potential to cause serious injury must be investigated and reported to WorkSafeBC.

Documentation

Written records of workplace violence incidents and injury reports and investigations will be maintained by [Insert Clinic Name] for three years from the date of incident and investigation.  

Evaluation and Continuous Improvement 

Annually, [Insert Clinic Name] will review the Violence Prevention Policy, lessons learned, and make any changes to the policy, informed by violent events, to ensure the safety of staff and patients. 

Approval: