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Workplace Challenges

Dying for a Job

Given Canada's demographics, it's hardly news that health care and social services are among the best places to look for employment and a solid career.

DAVID CHILTON

[ 2006-04-26 ]

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KILLHAM
Workers Health and Safty Centre

What's not widely known, however, is how dangerous both sectors can be for the people who work in them. According to Dying for a Job, a new series on CBC Radio based on three years of investigation, health-care and social services workers are up to 12 times more likely to file a claim of workplace violence compared with any other sector of the economy.

NO SURPRISE

That figure doesn't surprise Jessie Callaghan, senior technical specialist at the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety in Hamilton, a federally funded body.

"I'm not surprised to see that number," Callaghan says. "There's an expectation of quality of service (for patients and clients) that's not being met."

Remember, Callaghan cautions, anyone using the health-care system or dealing with social services is usually under severe personal stress, so violent outbursts aren't uncommon.

Mary Vachon agrees with Callaghan. As a nurse with a doctorate in sociology and a professor in the departments of Psychiatry and Public Health Science at the University of Toronto, she points out: "None of us are at our best under stress."

Apart from stress, there are other factors to be considered, Callaghan says. Often health-care and social services employees work alone, she notes, making them more vulnerable to violence. As an example, Callaghan points out that changes in the provision of services mean that more people are seen at home rather than in an institutional setting, so the worker is without the support of colleagues. Health-care and social services providers also may have to deal with individuals who are abusing drugs or alcohol, Callaghan goes on to say, or who are in the early stages of dementia and thus not fully aware of what they are doing.

As for the most dangerous job in either sector, Callaghan suspects that, given the anecdotal evidence, nurses are most likely to face workplace violence, although as she cautions, "I don't know if the statistics bear that out."

Violence directed at health-care and social services workers is just one episode of this multi-part series that is running on CBC Radio April 23 to 29, a comprehensive investigation into the safety of today's workplace, where Canada fares very poorly.

In 2004, the Canadian Centre for the Study of Living Standards looked at workplace safety in the world's rich countries and found that Canada's fatality rate of seven deaths for every 100,000 workers put it in a first place tie for the worst record. Canada's record for reducing workplace fatalities over the previous 20 years, furthermore, also earned it the top spot as the worst offender.

COMPLAINED FOR YEARS

Dave Killham, executive director of the Workers Health and Safety Centre in Toronto, which is funded by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario, says the International Labor Organization has complained for years about Canada's unsafe workplaces.

For Killham, the principal reason for this state of affairs is a lack of government enforcement; however, he's quick to point out not all employers are unconcerned about the health and safety of their workers.

There are no "silver bullets" to solve Canada's workplace woes, Killham says, but he suggests education and training would go a long way to reduce the actual or potential harm employees face. But it's not just education and training for workers fresh out of school, Killham continues. "It's not about young workers, it's about new workers. They face exactly the same risk (in the workplace.)"

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