B.C. health-care unions call for safer work environment on National Day of Mourning

Health-care unions in B.C. are calling for a safer work environment as Canada commemorates workers who have fallen ill, been injured, or died on the job.

Tuesday marks the National Day of Mourning in Canada. WorkSafe BC says that in 2025, workplace injuries and illnesses tragically claimed the lives of 138 workers in the province.

Of the 138, the health-care sector accounted for only one death, but the BC Nurses’ Union says injuries are a significant concern.

Union President Adriane Gear says she’s worried that unsafe environments can lead to a shortage of nurses, resulting in a lack of appropriate care for patients.

“Every nurse that’s taken out of the system because of a workplace injury is one less person that is available to deliver care, which then just compounds the issue of not having enough nurses.”

Less care, more violence

When the quality of care drops, Gear says patients become frustrated, leading to higher levels of violence in hospitals.

“In an emergency room, the patients are in pain, scared, or a family member is worried about their loved ones, and they’re having to wait for four, six, eight, 10, 12 hours in crowded waiting rooms and feeling like they’re not getting the care that they need, people lash out,” Gear explained.

Gear says hospitals need to ensure both the safety of nurses and the care for patients.

Nurses, as Gear claims, have some of the highest injury rates across industry sectors in terms of violent incidents.

“Since 2019, our overall injury rates have gone up by 25 per cent, and psychological injury claims have gone up threefold.”

Gear says the solution is to improve the minimum nurse-to-patient ratio — the minimum number of nurses deemed necessary to care for a maximum number of patients on a given unit.

The union says the first phase of implementation of the mandatory nurse-to-patient ratio in B.C., which includes staffing ratios on medical and surgical, rehabilitation, palliative, intensive care and pediatric units, reached the three-quarters completion mark in March this year.

“When you have appropriate staffing levels, incidents of violence go down.”

On its website, the BC Nurses’ Union says appropriate ratios can also reduce occupational injuries, incidents, and missed care, and help to retain nurses by creating a safe and supportive work environment.

It says harsh working conditions can lead to many nurses leaving the field.

By taking the necessary steps to address safety issues, the health-care industry will be able to retain nurses, Gear said.

Nobody should come to work to be harmed

Lynn Bueckert, the secretary-business manager of the Hospital Employees’ Union, says hospital workers from her union report experiencing high stress.

On the National Day of Mourning, she expressed her sorrow for the workers who died on the job due to factors such as occupational disease.

“We also need to take time to remember all the workers who are seriously injured. They may not have been killed, but are seriously injured on the job,” said Bueckert.

“We need to address that.”

As important as it is to memorialize the injured and dead workers, Bueckert says the community should also work together to resolve the problems.

“Nobody in this province, no worker, should ever have to go to work and then be harmed,” added Gear, sharing her condolences.

While being thankful that nurses are not experiencing serious fatalities in the workplace, she underscored why safety issues need to be resolved, given the number of “very serious” injuries that occurred due to violence.

“I don’t want any worker in B.C. to be a statistic of a fatality. If we do not address some of the serious health and safety concerns with respect to violence, I fear that could happen.”