Frontline Insights
BC nurses are subject matter experts when it comes to occupational health and safety. Unfortunately, their profession can expose them to a wide range of hazards and incidents in the workplace. Despite having expertise and experience, employers often leave nurses out of conversations about addressing and solving safety issues.
BC nurses are subject matter experts when it comes to occupational health and safety. Unfortunately, their profession can expose them to a wide range of hazards and incidents in the workplace. Despite having expertise and experience, employers often leave nurses out of conversations about addressing and solving safety issues.
The lack of collaboration between nurses and employers motivated BCNU to launch a contest this spring dedicated to collecting nurses’ creative solutions and ideas for addressing safety concerns at their worksites.
The contest launched in tandem with North American Occupational Safety and Health (NAOSH) week and ran between May 6 and June 11. It gathered 338 submissions from worksites across the province. Not surprisingly, members were quick to participate, submitting innovative ideas that addressed issues around staffing shortages, toxic workplaces, workload and safety.
On June 24, BCNU’s Provincial Executive Committee selected three winners, who each received an Apple Watch. Three other participants won a random draw for a BCNU gift valued at $100.
Denise Waurynchuk, BCNU’s Interim Executive Councillor for OHS and Mental Health, believes nurses are natural problem solvers, and wasn’t surprised that the contest generated a long and comprehensive list of solutions.
“The hardest part for us was picking three winners because all of the submissions were excellent,” says Waurynchuk. “The contest gave our members a chance to engage with the health and safety needs of their worksites and exposed several key issues that health employers should address. Many of the solutions aren’t complicated but could really improve working conditions for nurses.”
The submissions focused on staffing challenges, minimum nurse-to-patient ratios, incident reporting, exposure to substances, violence and ergonomics.
“Nurses should be at the table when employers consider how to create healthier and safer worksites.”
- Denise Waurynchuk, interim Executive Councillor for OHS and mental health
Here are the three winning submissions:
IMPROVING INCIDENT REPORTING
Nurses often encounter barriers when trying to find a safe space to complete worksite incident reports which often results in many nurses not reporting at all. Carly, a member of the East Kootenay region, won for her idea to create a dedicated workspace for nurses to use to make workplace health call centre reports. The space would give nurses privacy to report health and safety incidents on shift while indicating to other staff that they are not just on a break or on the phone.
PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH AND SAFETY
The second winning submission focused on the needs of community mental health nurses, who are often left without adequate supplies and resources when providing care to those outside of hospital settings. Csandra from the Thompson North Okanagan region submitted an idea that would give nurses exposure control with booties and safety outfits, bed bug supplies, a bag for respirators when encountering overdoses, sanitizer and basic wound supplies to support unhoused patients.
EXPOSURE TO ILLICIT SUBSTANCES
Open drug use in hospitals has become more prevalent across the province. In fact, results from BCNU’s latest Not Okay campaign found that 61 percent of nurses are exposed to illicit substances at least once a month while on the job. Chelsea, a member from the South Island region, submitted a winning idea suggesting that worksites install specialized smoke detectors in patient rooms to protect staff and other patients from exposure to illicit substances such as fentanyl smoke.
BRINGING GOOD IDEAS FORWARD
Waurynchuk says all three ideas will be presented to health employers for future consideration.
“Our OHS officers will be following up with health employers to see if there’s room for collaboration to implement these ideas at workplaces across the province,” she says. “We believe all three are actionable.”
“Whether it’s self-care measures, ways of improving morale among staff or addressing occupational health and safety concerns, each submission we received was thoughtful and insightful”, says Waurynchuk. “It stands as a reminder that nurses should be at the table when employers consider how to create healthier and safer worksites.”
“This contest generated so many creative and exciting ideas,” adds Waurynchuk. “Just think of what could happen if nurses were invited to weigh in more often.” •
Members who’d like to get more involved in health and safety are encouraged to join their JOHS committee.
Joint Occupational Health and Safety (JOHS) committees consist of worker and employer reps working together to create and promote safe and healthy workplaces. They have a wide range of duties that include inspecting workplaces, investigating concerns and making recommendations to employers.
To join a JOHS committee contact helathandsafety@bcnu.org
UPDATE (Summer 2024)