IN THIS ISSUE

OHSAH's Board of Directors would like to announce to all our external stakeholders that at the end of January, 2007, Dr. Annalee Yassi left the position of Chief Scientific and Medical Director with the Occupational Health and Safety Agency for Healthcare (OHSAH) in BC...

View the full announcement here.

Let us know what you think of our new website! To help promote site feedback, we've put together an online survey for you to fill out. Send us your thoughts by March 7 and you'll be entered to win a gift set from Herbal Republic!

Fill out the survey here.

The office of the Auditor General of BC has just released its follow-up to the June 2004 report, “In Sickness and in Health: Healthy Workplaces for British Columbia’s Health Care Workers.”

The overall purpose of this review was to determine how well the health authorities in British Columbia are managing the workplace to ensure a healthy work environment for the province’s healthcare workers. Specifically, the health authorities were examined as to whether they are: providing leadership in establishing and maintaining a healthy work environment; promoting a healthy work environment; and monitoring and reporting on the health of their employees and the work environment.

Download the full report here.

Spring Training Is More Than Baseball!

How can we improve the effectiveness of our Joint Occupational Health and Safety (JOHS) Committee? How can we know what the most important health and safety issues are in our worksite? What should we do when someone gets hurt on the job?

These are some of the questions that are answered in the Spring training sessions offered by OHSAH’s Healthcare Education and Learning Program (HELP). Our six modules are focused on occupational health and safety issues faced by Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committees, supervisors and frontline workers.

Training will take place from April through June, 2007.

Available training modules:

For more details on course content, please see the course descriptions
on the OHSAH website. To see the schedule for your area, visit the schedule section or submit a training request using our website’s training request form.

Affiliate Training - Last Chance to Sign Up!

This is your last chance to sign up for affiliate training. Courses will be held from March 5–9, 2007 in Burnaby at the BCGEU building, 4911 Canada Way. For more information on the courses available, please visit the OHSAH website, or contact Jolene Simpson at 778-328-8032 to register.

The 3 Rs of Violence Prevention

1. REVIEW different possible situations of aggressive behaviour.
You will be better prepared to deal with aggressive behaviour if you
have thought about the different types of situations you might face in your workplace that could become threatening to yourself or others. Some people don’t want to think about bad things happening, but it’s not being negative to prepare for potential bad situations. If you haven’t thought about what you might do, you are not as likely to do the best thing to avert danger or injury. Be aware of your surroundings and have an appropriate level of watchfulness given the circumstances.

2. RECOGNIZE body language and behaviour.
Know how to read a person’s body language and watch their behaviour. What level are they at? Are they anxious, verbally aggressive, or physically aggressive? You can learn how to recognize behaviours which can give you an idea of how likely an aggressive incident is.

3. RESPOND with actions appropriate to the behaviour of the client. Through use of nonverbal, verbal, and physical responses, your response can lessen the likelihood of the behaviour escalating. Know when the situation is escalating and who to call for help.

Chance favours the prepared mind – this means that you are more likely to respond in a helpful and safe way to an aggressive situation if you have thought about possible scenarios ahead of time and have learned the skills to defuse the situation. It’s not just chance that you will be able to manage the aggressive client – it takes skills and planning ahead! To learn the skills you need to recognize and deal with various aggressive situations and clients,
join us for training in Prevention and Management of Aggressive Behaviour.

Did You Know?

• The basic legislation for Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) in British Columbia is found in the Workers Compensation Act (WCA) and the Regulation. View the Regulation here.

• Collective Agreements may also have language regarding OH&S including specific agreements regarding violence prevention in the healthcare workplace. Some of these requirements can be more stringent than those in the WCA and Regulation. Be sure to contact your union’s OH&S steward to find out how this affects you.

• You have a right to participate which includes training and bringing health and safety concerns to supervisors and/or JOHS Committees.

• Every employer must ensure the health and safety of all workers working for that employer. (WCA, part 3 Division 3, section 115)

• Every worker must take reasonable care to protect the worker’s health and safety and the health and safety of other persons who may be affected by a worker’s act or omissions at work. (WCA, part 3 Division 3, section 116)

• Every supervisor must ensure the health and safety of all workers under the direct supervision of the supervisor. (WCA, part 3 Division 3, section 117)

Come join us for training to learn more about how you can
make healthcare a healthier place to work!