BCGEU President meets with top management over violent assaults at FPH

BCGEU President Darryl Walker and Component 2 Chairperson Susanne Francoeur urged the president of BC Mental Health & Addiction Services (BCMHAS) and other management staff to work cooperatively with the union through the joint occupational health and safety committee to bring in measures to stop the violent assaults on health care workers at Forensic Psychiatric Hospital.

“This was an important and productive discussion,” Walker said of the meeting January 6 with management representatives who included Leslie Arnold, president of BCMHAS, and Betty Kerray, provincial executive director of FPH.

“We are alarmed at the increasing incidents of violent assaults and near-misses on our members. Just the day before our meeting last week, the WCB was onsite at FPH yet again, this time over concerns about a number of incident reports related to a particularly aggressive patient. We needed to make sure our message that health and safety is a top priority for our members and for this union, and should be for the employer as well.”

Walker said he is encouraged the employer is undertaking a number of initiatives to reduce the risk to workers and comply with six safety orders issued by the WCB last fall following a violent assault on a health care worker in July. In that incident, a patient using a handmade metal weapon assaulted a BCGEU member by stabbing him in the neck. The member has since had to undergo reconstructive surgery, and is still recovering.

Both Walker and Francoeur reminded the employer of its obligation to work through the health and safety committee to ensure workers have input in the development and implementation of measures related to workplace health and safety.

Said Francoeur: “We are committed to supporting initiatives to address the health and safety of our members. But this work has to be done together – through the joint committee.”

The BCGEU will continue to monitor the situation until we are satisfied appropriate measures are in place to protect our members.

Violence is not part of our members' jobs at FPH. They have the right to go to work without fear of being punched, stabbed, kicked or spit on. And their employer has a legal obligation to ensure their workplace is safe.

Please continue to check the BCGEU website for more updates.