Violations are Horizon's early warning system, flagging workforce members whose results fall below your organization's compliance requirements. This article explains what a violation is, how it differs from an incident, how violations are detected, where to find them, and how to investigate and resolve one.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• What is a violation?
• Violations vs. Incidents
• How violations are detected
• Where violations appear
• Violation detail tabs
• Investigate and resolve a violation
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
  • Do I need to document every violation resolution?
  • What should I do before resolving a violation?
  • What's the difference between Accept and Avoid?
  • Where can I find active violations?
  • What's the difference between a violation and an incident?

What is a violation?

A violation is created automatically when a workforce member's verification results fall below the threshold defined by one of your organization's rules. It is an early warning signal, not a real-world event: nothing has happened yet, but action is needed to prevent it.

Example: an employee's required compliance training certification expires. No incident has occurred, but the employee is now non-compliant, so Horizon creates a violation for review. The same logic applies regardless of industry: an expired license, a lapsed medical report, or a missed background check recheck would trigger a violation the same way.

Every violation goes through a documented review and resolution. This is what builds your audit trail.

Violations vs. Incidents

• Violation: Created automatically by Horizon when a rule fails. Nothing has happened yet, but action is needed to prevent it. 
  
• Incident: A real-world event that has already occurred (for example, a vehicle collision or a failed roadside inspection). Incidents are logged manually by your team and linked to the relevant risk.

Note: A violation can exist without an incident, and an incident can occur without a prior violation. Both are tracked against the same risk so you have a complete compliance history.

How violations are detected

Violations are triggered by the rules configured for each risk in your Risk Register. A rule is made up of four components:

• Context: The specific verification service the rule applies to (for example, Criminal Canada)
  
• Parameter: The data point in the verification report the rule checks (for example, has a criminal record)
  
• Operator: The comparison logic used to evaluate the parameter (for example, "is equal to")
  
• Value: The condition that triggers the violation when met (for example, "Yes")

When a verification result matches a rule's condition, Horizon automatically generates a violation and links it to the relevant risk and workforce member.

Where violations appear

Violations can be accessed from three places:

• Dashboard - the Latest Violations and Violations Overview widgets surface active violations across your entire workforce.
  
• Risk Register - open the relevant risk entry and go to its Active Violations tab to see all violations linked to that specific risk.
  
• Member Profile - open a workforce member's profile and go to their Active Violations tab to see violations tied to that individual.

Violation detail tabs

When you open a violation, the following tabs are available:

• Review – Tracks the reviewer's name, the action taken (Accepted or Avoided), and the description of that action, for the reporting audit trail.
• Activity Feed – A running log where reviewers can add notes on the file and progress made toward resolving the violation. The Activity Feed is visible to team members with access to the violation.
• Attachments – Lets you attach supporting documentation to the violation.
• History – A summary view of which violations require review.

Investigate and resolve a violation

Every violation requires a documented review and resolution. This creates the audit trail that protects your organization during inspections or legal review.

1. Go to the Dashboard, Risk Register, or a member's profile, and click on the violation you want to review.
2. Review the details: the workforce member, the rule that failed, and the underlying verification result.
3. Assign the violation to the appropriate reviewer. Note: Once a reviewer has been selected, this can't be changed. 
4. Investigate and act on the violation before resolving it. Take whatever steps are needed to address it, such as requesting updated documents or following up with the workforce member.
   
   1. If multiple team members are working on the same violation, use the Activity Feed to log notes and progress. This keeps everyone aligned on what's already been done.
   2. If the workforce member needed to sign a physical document, click Upload documents to add it as an attachment. All uploaded files appear in the Attachments section for reference.
5. Once the violation has been fully investigated, select a resolution:
   • Accept – The risk is confirmed and formally acknowledged. No action is taken, and the organization assumes the remaining (residual) risk.
     • Example: a background check flags a minor, decade-old infraction unrelated to the role's responsibilities. The reviewer confirms it poses no meaningful risk to the position, marks the violation as Accepted, and documents that the finding was reviewed and does not warrant action.
   • Avoid – Action is taken to mitigate the risk, resulting in no remaining risk (for example, suspending a driver while their license is invalid).
     • Example: Suspending a driver while their license is invalid is an Avoided resolution, since the organization took action to remove the risk.
6. Document the reason for your decision. Be as detailed as possible about what was done. This description, along with the Activity Feed and any attachments, forms your audit trail.
7. Click Review to close the violation.

Best practice: Clicking Review resolves the violation and closes it permanently. It can't be reopened afterward, so confirm that every action is complete and documented in the resolution notes, the Activity Feed, or Attachments, before you click Review.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Do I need to document every violation resolution?

Yes. Every violation must be resolved with a documented reason, regardless of the outcome. This creates an auditable record of how each compliance issue was handled.

What should I do before resolving a violation?

Investigate and act on the violation first, for example by following up with the workforce member, or requesting documents. If multiple people are involved, log progress in the Activity Feed, and upload any signed documents as attachments. Resolving a violation is final and can't be reopened, so make sure everything is documented before you click Review. See Investigate and resolve a violation above for the full workflow.

What's the difference between Accept and Avoid?

Accepted means the organization has acknowledged the risk and is assuming it without further action. Avoided means action was taken to eliminate the risk.

Where can I find active violations?

Active violations appear in three places: the Dashboard, the relevant Risk Register entry, and the workforce member's profile under their Active Violations tab.

What's the difference between a violation and an incident?

A violation is an automated early warning generated when a rule condition is met. Nothing has happened yet, but action is needed. An incident is a real-world event that has already occurred and is recorded manually by your team.