At Strongco, violence and harassment in the workplace are prohibited and will not be tolerated.  All reasonable and practical measures will be taken to protect our employees, customers, suppliers, and other visitors from it. This policy is not intended to discourage employees from exercising their rights pursuant to other laws/regulations.

DEFINITION:

For the purpose of this policy, Workplace Violence and Harassment includes but is not limited to:

  • Violence – Any exercise, attempt, or threat to exercise physical force against any employee in the workplace that could cause physical or mental injury to the worker or visitor (e.g. hitting, shoving, pushing, kicking, shaking fists, yelling, swearing, spitting, destroying property, or throwing objects)
  • Workplace Harassment – Engaging in a course of vexatious comment or conduct against any employees (any behaviour that demeans, embarrasses, humiliates, annoys, alarms, or verbally abuses a person) that is known to be or would be expected to be unwelcome – (this includes words, gestures, intimidation, bullying, or other inappropriate activities) or
  • Workplace Sexual Harassment – Engaging in a course of vexatious comment or conduct against any employee in a workplace because of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, where the course of comment or conduct is known or ought reasonably to be known to be unwelcome or making a sexual solicitation or advance where the person making the solicitation or advance is in a position to confer, grant or deny benefit or advancement to the employee and the person knows or ought reasonably to know the solicitation or advance is not welcome.
  • Day to day management and performance management, done in a respectful and constructive manner, are not harassment.

WE BELIEVE:

  • That our workplace should be safe and free from violence and harassment
  • That our workplace violence and harassment policy and programs apply to all employees, customers, contractors, visitors, and members of the public, as applicable.
  • That our employees are responsible for working and interacting with others in a respectful manner, preventing and reporting acts of violence and harassment in the workplace

OUR COMMITMENT:

  • To assess and eliminate or if that is not reasonably practicable, control the hazard of workplace violence and harassment
  • To create a work environment of trust, dignity, and respect
  • To provide all employees with information and instruction on our workplace violence and harassment prevention initiatives
  • To thoroughly investigate, in a fair, respectful, timely manner, any workplace violence or harassment claims disclosing only the minimum amount of personal information necessary to inform employees of specific or general threats
  • When aware that an employee is or is likely to be exposed to domestic violence in the workplace, will take all take reasonable precautions to protect the employee and any other persons in the workplace likely to be affected
  • To take all reasonable and practical measures to prevent reprisals, threats of reprisal, or further violence
  • To take immediate corrective action in the event of a breach of the policy

OUR ACTIONS:

  • Strongco will ensure that immediate assistance is available where we become aware that workplace violence or harassment has occurred, or it appears likely that such will occur
  • Incidents or complaints of workplace violence or harassment will be kept confidential except to the extent necessary to protect employees, to investigate the complaint or incident, to take appropriate action or otherwise as required by law
  • Strongco will review this policy annually and update employees/managers on changes
  • Strongco will promote a respectful workplace and ensure effective procedures are in place to prevent workplace violence and harassment

The success of this policy requires the active commitment and participation of every member of our Strongco team.

Oliver Nachevski
President and Chief Executive Officer

January 2024