The Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Code (the “Code”) is a cornerstone of health and safety protections for most Alberta workers. On December 4, 2024, new amendments to multiple sections of the Code were set out in Ministerial Order No. 2024-12 (“Alta Reg 202”). A transitional period is in place from December 4, 2024, to March 30, 2025, which means that employers must be in compliance with the amendments by March 30, 2025.
Alta Reg 202 amends part 27 of the Code, which provides mandatory protocols for employers pertaining to violence and harassment in the workplace. The amendments were drafted to incorporate industry best practices, and reflect feedback gathered through a public engagement survey conducted by the Ministry of Jobs, Economy, and Trade in early 2024. They were further amended to remove duplication and simplify the requirements.
Under the previous version of the Code, sections 390, 390.1, 390.2, 390.4, 390.5, and 390.6 set out employers’ requirement to establish both violence and harassment prevention plans. The amended Code has replaced these sections with requirements the Alberta government has called “simplified and integrated”.
Previously, employers were required to develop separate violence and harassment prevention plans. These plans each included a separate policy and unique procedures for implementation. This separation resulted in significant duplication and administrative burden on Alberta employers, as well as confusion where incidents involving both violence and harassment occurred.
Under the amended Code, employers are mandated to develop and implement a single violence and harassment prevention plan, consolidated into one policy. This plan must include:
Measures to eliminate or reasonably control the hazards of violence and harassment to workers;
Procedures to inform workers of the nature and extent of the hazard of violence and harassment, including information related to specific or general threats of violence that exist or may exist;
Procedures to report violence or harassment;
Procedures to investigate complaints and incidents of violence or harassment; and
Provisions to protect the confidentiality of all parties involved in a complaint or incident (subject to certain exemptions).
When employers are developing their violence and harassment prevention plan, they are still required under the amended Code to consult with their workplace’s joint health and safety committee, if there is one. If no such committee exists at a given workplace, the employer must consult with the workers to whom the plan will apply. However, under the amended Code, consultation with workers is stated to be required “as far as [it is] reasonably practicable to do so”. This introduces some discretion and flexibility on the part of employers in the determination of whether consultation is required.
The consolidated violence and harassment prevent plan still must be reviewed by the employer at specified intervals, but the requirements have been simplified under the amended Code. Under the amended Code, while employers are still required to review the consolidated violence and harassment prevention plan at least every three years, they may now review the plan when an incident of violence or harassment “indicates a review is required”, rather than after every incident. Again, this also introduces an increased level of discretion and flexibility on the part of employers.
Employers are also now required to review the plan if there is a change to the work or the work site that could affect the potential for violence or harassment to occur.
The amendments further clarify requirements relating to the investigation and reporting of incidents. The amended Code confirms that employers are not required to provide investigation reports to the Director, the joint health and safety committee, the workplace health and safety representative, or to workers. This had previously caused confusion, particularly in the oil and gas industry, where in-house reporting requirements have become very complex.
Further, the previous provision of the Code, which stated that employees undergoing treatment for an injury related to an incident of workplace violence or harassment are deemed to be at work during that treatment, has been simplified. It is now confirmed that such an employee will not suffer a loss of wages or benefits when seeking violence or harassment-related medical treatment during work hours.
Another significant change is the repeal of section 389. Section 389 had explicitly stated that violence and harassment were considered hazards for the purposes of Part 2 of the Code – Hazard Assessment, Elimination and Control. Interestingly, section 390 continues to recognize violence and harassment as workplace hazards.
Finally, amendments specific to the handling of explosive materials were also made to Part 33 of the Code, and to site-specific provisions in Part 37 – Oil, Gas and Geothermal Energy. These amendments focus on worker safety and the prevention of workplace accident and injury.
This transitional period from December 4, 2024, to March 30, 2025 is a key time for employers. These amendments must be considered carefully, as they apply broadly to employers throughout Alberta. Employers should take this time to review their violence prevention and harassment prevention plans and ensure compliance under the amended Code. While consolidation of these plans is not required, employers should consider whether the creation of a single plan would streamline the detection, reporting, and investigation of violence and harassment in their workplace.
The actual text of the amended Code was only very recently released, and can be accessed at https://www.alberta.ca/occupational-health-and-safety-code.
