Here's how you can help employees who’re victims of aggressive behaviour
Canada's law prohibiting individuals from harassing health workers struck anew, this time leading to charges and an arrest warrant against the perpetrator. The Ottawa Police Service (OPS) issued an arrest warrant against a 58-year-old man from Windsor, who was charged with "hate-motivated offence of Harassing Communication, Harassment by repeated communication, Mischief and Intimidation of Health Service."
It came after he made "multiple threats" through the phone against an Ottawa-based family physician who appeared on a national television show to urge the public to keep wearing masks, The Canadian Press reported.
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The man was charged thanks to a new legislation introduced by the Liberal government in 2021 that makes it illegal to intimidate healthcare workers or prevent them from administering care to their patients. This is the third time that the charge of intimidating health workers has been made against individuals, with the other from Peterborough, Ontario, in January, The Canadian Press reported.
The legislation's introduction came amid heightened harassment and aggressive behaviour directed to healthcare workers due to vaccine mandates and other COVID-related regulations. But aggression against healthcare workers isn't something new. In fact, various reports in 2019 have already revealed how vulnerable health workers are to aggression. A study in 2019 previously revealed that 88% of personal support workers and registered practical nurses suffer from physical violence at work.
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This aggression also extends not only to healthcare workers, but to employees of businesses that impose vaccine rules.
HRD previously spoke with Michelle McKinnon, partner at McMillan, who advised employers to review health and safety measures in the workplace while at the same time training employees on how to deal with aggressive situations.
"In British Columbia, an employer's obligation with respect to violence in the workplace includes providing information to employees about the risk of violence in the workplace. It also includes an obligation to provide instruction and training on, among other things, the appropriate response to incidents of violence, including how to obtain assistance."