B.C. nurses call for better protections for health-care workers amid rising violence
Health-care workers in British Columbia are calling for stronger protections against workplace violence.
The BC Nurses’ Union (BCNU) organised a rally late last week to voice their concerns over the rising incidents of violence against health-care staff.
“We’ve seen an escalation in disturbing incidents where nurses have been choked unconscious and threatened with weapons,” said BCNU President Adriane Gear. “No one should have to fear for their safety at work. Yet every day, nurses face physical and verbal assaults while doing their jobs — caring for others. Enough is enough.”
According to the union — citing data from WorkSafeBC — time-loss claims related to workplace violence among nurses across the profession have nearly doubled, rising from an average of 25 per month in 2014 to 46 per month in 2023.
Among those injured was Janice McCaffrey, who spent most of her 40-year nursing career in critical care.
McCaffrey said she was helping a patient on June 6, 2024, who needed to be cleaned up after being sick to his stomach, according to a CBC report.
As they walked down the hall, “He didn’t say a word to me,” she said in the report. “He punched me over and over and over again.”
Earlier this year, one nurse in British Columbia was “strangled unconscious” by a patient at the inpatient psychiatry unit at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH).
An October 2023 report noted that 82% of care aides in B.C. have experienced violence or aggression at work.
'Systemic issue' driven by 'chronic understaffing'
The BCNU described the situation as a “systemic issue” driven by “chronic understaffing and inadequate security measures in hospitals and care facilities.”
In addition to addressing critical staffing shortages across the health-care system, the BCNU is calling for the deployment of additional relational security officers in all facilities and the continued implementation of minimum nurse-to-patient ratios. The union stated that evidence shows safer staffing levels not only improve the quality of patient care but also reduce incidents of workplace violence.
“Violence is not part of the job, and we refuse to let it become the norm,” said Gear. “We are calling on this government to treat this crisis with the urgency it demands — because our safety should never be negotiable.”
