Health and safety at your workplace

Do you know about the improvements to protect you at work?
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Health and safety improvements

With injury rates higher than any other sector in British Columbia and serious staffing shortages throughout health care, making working conditions safer was a key priority for your bargaining committee. 

That's why the 2022-2025 Facilities collective agreement includes measures to both prevent harm in the first place, as well as provide better supports to members who experience job-related soft-tissue injuries, mental health challenges or workplace-based violence. 

Here’s the list of some of the key health and safety provisions in the renewed contract: 

IMPROVING HEALTH AND SAFETY 

The work of joint occupational health and safety committees (JOHSC) to identify and resolve issues in the workplace has been strengthened in the following areas: 

  • Psychological Health Added - JOHSC committees are now empowered to identify psychological health and safety hazards, participate in related inspections and investigations, and recommend improvements to address these hazards. 

  • Hazard Response Improvement - A JOHSC committee can now recommend a risk assessment as soon as it has identified a hazard in the workplace. 

  • Enhanced Committee Supports - New language confirms compensation for committee members to cover preparation time, committee duties and functions, and annual education participation, including the additional education day in a committee member’s first year. 

  • Smaller Site Support - Even at smaller sites where a JOHSC is not required, provisions have now been expanded to empower worker health and safety representatives at those sites. 

TACKLING WORKPLACE VIOLENCE 

Here are the enhanced measures to respond to violence in the workplace: 

  • New Safety Measures - You can now request violence prevention training and refreshers, make use of new reporting procedures to better document visitor/patient harassment and have access to the highest level of safety and personal protective equipment when dealing with biological exposure. 

  • Aggressive Patients or Residents - At your request, the employer must provide in-service and/or instructions in caring for aggressive patients or residents. As well, you may provide input on the topics for in-services and into the instructions for care. 

  • Sexual and Domestic Violence - The employer must now have a sexual or domestic violence policy in effect that identifies the process for reporting, commits to taking action – including implementing individualized safety plans – and protects a worker’s confidentiality and privacy. The employer must also provide support and resources for trauma-informed care. 

  • Critical Incident Stress Support - If you suffer a serious work-related traumatic incident, in addition to the employer providing immediate support and scheduling a follow-up with you, workers may now access the WorkSafeBC Critical Incident Response program. 

This bulletin is part of a series of updates about the renewed Facilities collective agreement. Watch this space for future updates. If you have questions about any of these provisions, please contact your shop steward.

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