B.C. workplace reports highlight challenges faced by psychiatric hospital staff

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Workplace inspection reports for Coquitlam's Forensic Psychiatric Hospital include incidents of workers being groped, hit and receiving death threats on the job.

"WorkSafe was informed of three separate incidents of aggressive behaviour from a patient … where the patient physically struck a worker," say inspection notes by a WorkSafe B.C. inspector on Feb. 15, 2017.

"The incidents occurred within a month of each other and the patient has a history of aggressive behaviour targeting a worker's private areas," the report adds.

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An inspection reported on April 21, 2017, that the RCMP came to the work site as "a result of a patient uttering death threats to care staff."

The inspection reports and related orders obtained by the B.C. Government Employees' Union and provided to The Globe and Mail open a window on the challenges of caring for patients who have been found not criminally responsible for offences because of a mental disorder or unfit to stand trial.

The records for the period between February, 2012, and February, 2017, underscore issues the BCGEU has raised. The union represents about 270 employees at the hospital, including health-care workers and administrative staff, and has accused the Provincial Health Services Authority of not adequately protecting the employees.

On June 14, the BCGEU said in a statement that a staff member at the hospital had been assaulted by a patient the previous day and that the worker's colleagues "were unable to immediately restrain the patient because access was blocked by locked doors – prolonging the assault."

The BCGEU blamed the PHSA, saying it failed to protect the workers.

"If you look at similar facilities across the country, and you consider the patients who reside there – the workers at those facilities are provided additional safety gear, such as blocking pads or in some cases body armour," BCGEU president Stephanie Smith said in an interview Tuesday.

She added that workers at FPH get the same training as employees of hospitals or seniors' homes despite working in a potentially more dangerous setting.

The head of the agency that runs the hospital says the number of violent incidents has decreased in recent months and that the employer is working with the union to address safety concerns.

"It certainly is a priority for me and for PHSA … the trending is indicating that we are being successful in our approaches," Angela Draude, provincial executive director with PHSA's Forensic Psychiatric Services Commission, said on Tuesday.

PHSA is also willing to discuss protective gear with the union, Ms. Draude said.

According to PHSA, the number of "violent timeloss claims" – a claim accepted by WorkSafe B.C. to cover the wages of an employee hurt in a violent incident on the job – have dropped from 94 in 2015 to a projected 17 this year.

That forecast is based on that fact that seven claims were made between the beginning of the year and May 31, 2017.

The BCGEU and other unions have raised concerns about safety at FPH for several years.

The WorkSafe records also describe management's efforts to prevent patients from bringing contraband items such as weapons and illicit drugs into the hospital.

"The presence of contraband materials within the hospital (specifically drugs and weapons) poses an increased risk of violence to FPH workers," says a WorkSafe order from Nov. 30, 2015, adding that the hospital reduces the amount of contraband through physical barriers and search protocols.