Nurses routinely assaulted by some of BC's most violent offenders

BCNU President Debra McPherson demands health authorities provide safe staffing, better security

Nurses who work in some of BC's psychiatric facilities for violent offenders are assaulted by their patients almost daily. At the Maples, a forensics facility for children in Burnaby, 25 staff members were injured by violent youth last year. Just last Friday, a worker was punched in the face.

The BC Nurses' Union has repeatedly requested personal alarms, security cameras and safe staffing levels, which have been ignored by management.

Now, CBC Vancouver has uncovered a number of WorkSafeBC orders to increase security which have been written in the last year and which the Maples hasn't complied with.

BCNU President Debra McPherson says, "I would characterize the actions of the employer as willful disregard for the safety of these people, and complicity in the battery of our members. I consider that to be heinous, and I consider WorkSafeBC to be neutered."

WorkSafeBC has yet to deliver its report on the violent attack on a nurse at the Hillside facility in Kamloops, which happened just before Christmas. That nurse also had no personal alarm or hot button and BCNU demands for safe staffing levels at Hillside have been denied.