Health care workers encouraged to ‘refuse unsafe work’

Article content

As fear grows within the province for the safety of health care workers, the Manitoba Nurses Union (MNU) is reminding nurses they have the right to refuse to work if they believe there is an imminent threat to their safety.

Article content

Article content

Recommended Videos

Article content

“You have the right to refuse unsafe work,” MNU said in a Thursday bulletin. “Your health and safety are non-negotiable.”

MNU has been sounding the alarm in recent months about increasingly unsafe and sometimes violent working conditions in several Manitoba hospitals, according to the union. This includes Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre (HSC), and at several rural Manitoba facilities including ones in Thompson and Swan River.

MNU explained that nurses who do home visits would never put up with situations that many nurses are now being forced to deal with in Manitoba hospitals.

“If you arrive at a home visit and see a large erratic dog roaming freely, you have the right to refuse unsafe work,” MNU said. “If you’re entering a home where there are illegal weapons, you can leave.

Article content

Article content

“If a patient is acting aggressively toward you, remember that your safety comes first.”

The union is now listing steps nurses should take when they encounter unsafe situations at work. Nurses in imminent danger should immediately stop what they are doing and alert a supervisor that they are refusing unsafe work.

Nurses should then wait for a “resolution” of the issue before returning to their duties. MNU said that resolution must come from a superior.

“It is your employer’s responsibility to address the hazard. If they can’t or won’t, you are not required to proceed,” MNU said. “Stand up for yourself, MNU has your back.”

The union, however, is reminding nurses that to refuse work, the danger must be “imminent,” not based on past incidents.

Article content

MNU is also criticizing a recent notification sent by the Northern Health region to employees at the Thompson General Hospital informing them of safety “enhancements” at the northern Manitoba facility, and of new overnight lockdowns.

In the memo, the health authority said that due to recent “security events” at the Thompson General Hospital, an internal review has been completed to determine short-term improvements to increase safety for patients and staff.

Northern Health is now mandating a nightly lockdown at the facility, which includes the closure of all doors, stairwell doors, and elevators be locked after 7 p.m., excluding doors to the emergency room.

“What the memo fails to address is that the recent incident — a patient barricading himself in the chapel with a long gun — happened at 4:15 in the afternoon,” the union said in response to the memo.

Article content

MNU was referring to an incident that took place on Christmas Eve at the hospital. RCMP responded to a report of a man with a gun inside the hospital’s chapel on Dec. 24.

According to police, the man, who was later arrested, pointed a .22-calibre rifle at staff and fired the gun through a window before hospital security were able to safely secure the weapon.

The union says they aren’t confident that the new lockdowns will keep nurses and other health care workers safe, because incidents that are threatening their safety happen at all times of day and night.

“Let’s not forget; critical incidents don’t always happen during banker’s hours,” MNU said.

— Dave Baxter is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the Winnipeg Sun. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.

Have thoughts on what’s going on in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada or across the world? Send us a letter to the editor at wpgsun.letters@kleinmedia.ca

Article content