Published on: February 07, 2018

Richmond B.C. — WorkSafeBC has released a new three-year plan to help employers reduce serious injuries in the health care sector. The 2018-2020 Health Care High-Risk Strategy will focus WorkSafeBC resources on identified high-risk work practices within the health care and social services sectors. The primary focus will be on work areas and occupations in which direct patient care is provided.

“Health care workers in B.C. are at risk of injury from workplace violence, as well as overexertion and musculoskeletal injuries, primarily from lifting patients,” said Dan Strand, Director of Prevention Field Services for WorkSafeBC. “Our goal with the high-risk strategies is simple — to reduce the number of serious injuries.”

WorkSafeBC’s approaches for the high-risk strategy for health care include:

• Applying point-of-care inspection protocols with a primary focus on violence prevention and employer internal-responsibility systems.
• Implementing various initiatives to educate employers, workers and supervisors; build relationships; and encourage safe work practices with a primary focus on violence prevention.

The strategy notes that health care assistants have the highest number of time-loss claims of any occupation in B.C. Combined, health care assistants, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, social workers, home support workers and paramedics represent 74 per cent of all time-loss claims in the health care and social services sectors.

Point-of-care interactions between heath care workers and patients or clients pose the greatest risk of injury to health care workers, and put workers at risk for serious injuries due to acts of violence.

WorkSafeBC’s high-risk strategies identify and target industries and employers with a high risk of serious workplace injury and a significant contribution to the serious-injury rate. High-risk strategies include four industry sectors: construction, forestry, health care and manufacturing.

More information about the health care high-risk strategy, including 2018 deliverables and timelines, is available at worksafebc.com.

Quick Facts:

• In 2016, health care and social services represented approximately 11 percent of the worker population in B.C., and 18 percent of all time-loss claims.
• Health care and social services are disproportionately represented in time-loss claims due to acts of violence; 62 percent of all violence-related time-loss claims arise out of the health care and social services sectors.

WorkSafeBC is an independent provincial statutory agency governed by a Board of Directors appointed by the provincial government. The organization serves approximately 2.3 million workers and 231,000 employers throughout British Columbia. In administering the Workers Compensation Act, the organization is accountable to the public through the provincial government.

---

For more information, contact:

Craig Fitzsimmons
WorkSafeBC Media Relations
Email: media@worksafebc.com
Phone: 604.276.5157