Webinar planned to help prevent intimate partner violence and workplace violence

Registration is open for a webinar that focusses on helping prevent intimate partner violence and workplace violence.

The Working Toward Wellness (WTW) Committee has opened registration for its upcoming webinar titled "Code of Conduct, Workplace Violence Prevention and Intimate Partner Violence" scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 21, from 12 to 1 p.m.

The webinar is free and is for employers, supervisors, union representatives, joint health and safety committee/health and safety representatives and employees. Attendees can expect to gain valuable insights into recognizing, addressing, and preventing workplace violence and intimate partner violence in their workplace.

“We are pleased to be sharing Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare’s (HDGH) Code of Conduct and the strategies our staff use to prevent workplace violence and address intimate partner violence in our hospital," said Heidi Petro, manager of occupational health and safety and wellness at HDGH. "HDGH has a robust program aimed at ensuring compliance with Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act, specifically Bill 168 (Violence and Harassment in the Workplace).”

In Ontario, there are 35 reported femicides between November 26, 2023, and June 30, 2024. Thirty-one of these women were known to the person who killed them, such as a current or former intimate partner, a family member such as a father or son, or by a man otherwise known to them. This webinar is timely given the recent case of intimate partner violence that happened in June in the Windsor-Essex region.

"The local Working Toward Wellness (WTW) Committee is committed to enhancing awareness and fostering skills to address a number of health and well-being topics," says Jon Beveridge, chair of the Working Toward Wellness Committee.

The WTW Committee offers the Healthy at Work webinars throughout the year, based on participant feedback.

The webinar is hosted by the WTW Committee as part of its Healthy at Work initiative and is open to all interested parties at no cost.