National CBC News survey says some health workers are targeted by violence more often than the police
Toronto (25 April 2006) - A national investigation by CBC News says health care and social assistance workers are far more likely to file violence-related compensation claims than workers in other sectors of the economy.
"In some provinces, the rate of violence-related claims is 12 times higher than for all other industries," the network reports.
The study is based on records obtained from the data bases of provincial workplace safety insurance boards, which the CBC gained access to after three years of negotiation.
Among the findings:
- Nova Scotia health care and social assistance workers reported 3.59 violent incidents per 1,000 workers between 1994 and 2004, among the highest rates in the country for workers in those sectors.
- Ontario health care and social assistance workers reported 5,333 violent incidents between the years 1997 and 2004, out of 12,383 reported by all workers. That's an
- average of 1.21 incidents per 1,000 workers, compared to 0.17 incidents per 1,000 workers in other industries.
- Quebec's health and social assistance sector recorded 1.43 incidents per 1,000 workers between 1994 and 2004.
- Annually, Ontario health care and social assistance workers lost 24.5 days per 1,000 workers due to violence, compared to four lost days per 1,000 workers in all other incidents.
Police sometimes face a lower rate of violence
The CBC says it found that nurses were sometimes more affected by violence than the police.
"In Nova Scotia, 358 registered nurses filed claims stemming from violence between 1994 and 2004, compared to 96 police officers who did so in the same time period," it noted.
"During the same decade in British Columbia, 769 practical nurses or nurses' aides filed claims based on violent incidents, compared to 335 police officers."
Health care workers say the removal of mental patients from institutions, increasing the numbers treated in emergency rooms, is one reason for changing the trend.
As the population ages, the number of people with dementia is also rising in long-term care facilities.
Stressful conditions make matters worse
Some nurses report that they are so busy working in an overburdened system that they don't have time to diffuse little crises before they escalate into full-fledged attacks.
The study focuses in particular on the Health Sciences Association of B.C. (HSABC/NUPGE), which reports members being "punched, grabbed, pushed and threatened verbally by their patients and clients."
In rare cases, some workers are killed, the network notes, citing the case of David Bland, an HSABC member who was fatally stabbed on Jan. 19, 2005.
"If you were working in a grocery store, you wouldn't tolerate someone ramming a grocery cart into you because the stock wasn't on the shelf," says HSABC president Cindy Stewart.
"You wouldn't tolerate one of your customers punching you, or slapping you, grabbing you, or spitting on you, or verbally abusing you. That wouldn't be tolerated in those kinds of work environments – and yet it is a daily occurrence in the health sector." NUPGE
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