FEDERAL – A new online guide from Public Services and Procurement Canada provides an outline for employers on how to support trans workers. The guide, Support for Trans Employees: A Guide for Employees and Managers, was developed in consultation with the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and other unions and groups, according to a news release that the Alliance sent out on Aug. 25. The document, the first of its kind published by the federal government, consists of best practices for helping workers who have transitioned to another gender or are in the process of transition. Its other objectives are to define norms of appropriate conduct and offer resources, according to the PSAC. “It’s a very important document to help change the overall workplace culture,” Kate Hart, a trans activist and PSAC member who helped develop the guide, said in a press statement. Lori Walton, another trans PSAC representative involved with the guide, said she was “proud to have been part of this process” and hoped that it would “ultimately… lay the groundwork for all public-service workers.” Support for Trans Employees is accessible online at http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/apropos-about/guide-et-te-eng.html.
Category Archives: Health and Wellness
Military private faces charges for assault against three colleagues
SAINT-JEAN-SUR-RICHELIEU, Que. – The Canadian Forces (CF) National Investigation Service has charged a military member with three counts of sexual assault, regarding incidents that allegedly occurred at the Leadership and Recruit School at the CF’s Saint-Jean Garrison last November. According to a news release from the federal Department of National Defence, Private Jeremy August is accused of assaulting three other CF members during basic training at the school. On Aug. 23, Pte. August was charged with three counts under section 271 of the Criminal Code, punishable under section 130 of the National Defence Act. “The investigators of the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service are committed to protecting and supporting the victims of criminal sexual offences,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Bolduc, the commanding officer of the National Investigation Service, in a press statement. “This charge illustrates the continued success of our efforts to identify, investigate and bring to justice those persons responsible for these offences.” The date and location of the court martial are yet to be determined, the release noted.
Staff shortage could risk RCMP officer safety, says police federation
A shortage of RCMP personnel across the country could create both long-term and short-term safety risks for members, according to the national federation for RCMP officers.
An Aug. 14 story on the CTV News website cited the RCMP’s own statistics on its vacancy rates for this year and 2018. More than 12 per cent of officer positions are unfilled across Canada – a figure that jumps up to nearly 17 per cent for the Ottawa region and almost 14 per cent for the national division. About 5.5 per cent of members are on either sick leave or parental leave.
Brian Sauvé, the interim executive co-chair of the National Police Federation (NPF) and an RCMP sergeant currently on leave, told COHSN that the force has been short of personnel for years. As far back as 2012, the RCMP concluded that it was 5,000 members short, he said.
“If you’re in, for example, Burnaby, B.C., where a general-duty or a patrol unit has 20 police officers on it,” said Sauvé, “if you lose one or two to sickness or a broken bone or an injury or even a family-related leave, such as maternity or paternity, that’s not such a big deal. You can probably make that up from the other 200 or 300 that are in that detachment.”
But in a rural area, the percentage of lost human resources in the same situation is greater. “The workload is no different between Burnaby and smaller spots,” he said. “You end up with higher percentages of vacancies, which puts the added stress on those who are showing up to work and still healthy, to make up the shortfall.” As a result, these officers are more likely to experience exhaustion, operational stress injuries and reduced resilience to trauma.
“You’ll see higher incidences of police-officer suicides; you’ll see higher incidences of divorce, alcoholism,” said Sauvé, “because the resilience has been killed by overworking.”
In the prairies and New Brunswick, he added, it is not unusual for one officer to cover a patrol diameter of several hundred kilometres. “There’s the danger to the employee, the member, of going somewhere alone and not having backup for an hour or an hour and a half.” And fatigue is another considerable issue in these cases. “Is that police officer well-rested enough, and in the right mind, to make the proper decisions responding to and at that particular call?”
The RCMP headquarters in Ottawa did not respond to COHSN’s request for comment before press time.
Sauvé suggested more aggressive recruiting strategies and reduction of individual officers’ duties as ways to deal with the staffing issues. “The biggest one I think I hear from the membership is, perhaps we should scale back a little bit on what we, as a force, agree to do,” he explained. “Instead of being everything to everybody, maybe we should be a little less willing to take on all of the broad mandate that we have, and that’s temporarily.”
In addition, the RCMP could try to persuade retiring members to go back on the job on an as-needed basis and even to recruit internationally. “Vancouver, for example, tries to attract a lot of the U.K. police officers into their ranks.”
Sauvé cited a 2010 position paper by six senators, Toward a Red Serge Revival, which recommended that the federal government provide funding to hire 5,000 more members over the following decade, to fill persistent and widespread vacancies.
“We recommend that the RCMP expand recruitment, increase personnel in the smaller detachments and generally develop initiatives to allow officers adequate downtime and a more balanced life, in order to enhance their performance on the frontlines,” the paper read.
“There’s no overnight fix,” said Sauvé.
Union calls out province after jail riot sends officer to hospital
NORTH BAY, Ont. – Following an Aug. 12 riot at the North Bay Jail, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) is demanding that the province’s Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services take immediate action to protect both inmates and employees from violence. According to a press release from the union, the riot began early that evening and lasted about nine hours, during which a correctional officer was attacked with human excrement and had to be sent to the hospital. There was also extensive damage to one of the units, as well as broken windows in areas where inmates are not permitted access. OPSEU stated in the release that the Ministry needs to spend more to treat inmates’ mental-health issues and replace older correctional facilities like the North Bay Jail, which dates from the 1930s, in order to prevent similar incidents. “What took place at the jail is the result of the lack of attention to inmates with mental-health problems,” OPSEU Local 616 president Steven White said in a media statement. “They should be receiving separate treatment, but we have only four segregation cells because the building is so old.” The union cited another incident in Thunder Bay in Dec. 2015, when a prison riot hospitalized several correctional officers and forced others to undergo treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Alberta launches review of its occupational health and safety system
EDMONTON, Alta. – The Government of Alberta has announced that it is conducting a review of the province’s workplace health and safety system, to make sure that employers and workers understand their roles and responsibilities. The review will examine the Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Act, which has not undergone any major changes since 1976, according to an announcement on the government’s website. The process will consist of an online survey and roundtable sessions with employers, workers, academics and oh&s associations. Issues examined will include compliance, enforcement, education, engagement and prevention. “All workers deserve healthy and safe workplaces from their first shift through to retirement,” provincial Labour Minister Christina Gray said in a press statement. “Alberta workplaces… have changed significantly during the past 40 years. We need to make sure the province’s laws and best practices are helping keep Albertans safe.” The public is invited to complete the online survey at https://www.alberta.ca/ohs-system-review.aspx or to submit comments to lbr.review@gov.ab.ca by Oct. 16.
Agriculture workers at risk from sun, heat stress: AgSafe B.C.
LANGLEY, B.C. – The agricultural health and safety association for British Columbia is telling farms in the province that protecting outdoor workers from sun and heat stress in the summer is the employer’s responsibility. Agricultural workers are about three times more likely to develop skin cancer than indoor workers are, due to high sun exposure, according to a media release that AgSafe B.C. sent out on Aug. 10. The organization offered tips for minimizing sun exposure and preventing heat stress for farm employees, such as using sunscreen, wearing loose-fitting clothes and wide-brimmed hats, wearing sunglasses, drinking water regularly and taking breaks in shady areas. Additionally, employers should minimize outdoor work between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. “There are resources available for those who employ outdoor workers to help them develop and implement a sun and heat safety plan,” AgSafe executive director Wendy Bennett said in a press statement. “The key is controlling the worker’s exposure to sun and the possibility of heat stress,” she added, noting that farm equipment that gives off heat can increase the risk. Employers should look out for signs of heat stress, which include extreme fatigue, nausea, dizziness, muscle cramps and quick shallow breathing, AgSafe stated.
Union warns hospital employees to keep safe from wildfire smoke
BURNABY, B.C. – The union representing nearly 50,000 healthcare workers in British Columbia has cautioned its members about the risks of smoke from the province’s ongoing wildfires. An Aug. 4 news release from the Hospital Employees’ Union (HEU) commended the workers for their dedication to the job during the provincial state of emergency, but warned that they could be at risk from wildfire smoke. The union advised its members in the release to stay indoors as much as possible, keep hospital windows closed so that air scrubbers and filters could function properly, minimize strenuous activity, stay hydrated and follow local advisories for updates. “We thank each and every [member] for their extraordinary generosity and dedication in the face of this ongoing disaster,” HEU secretary and business manager Jennifer Whiteside said in a media statement. “So many members – many who are experiencing their own losses and displacements – have stepped up to help meet the needs of displaced patients and residents.” WorkSafeBC issued a similar advisory to employers in all industries in July (COHSN, Aug. 1).
New research group to tackle mental, physical health in the public-safety sectors
A new research institute based in Saskatchewan is developing a strategy to deal with health issues, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), among police, paramedics and other public-safety personnel in Canada.
The Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment (CIPSRT) – part of the Collaborative Centre for Justice and Safety at the University of Regina – was launched on July 25 at a national summit for public-safety stakeholders at Memorial University in St. John’s, N.L. The Institute will address both the mental and physical health of police officers, firefighters, paramedics and correctional staff.
“There are a lot of mental-health issues going on,” explained Renée S. MacPhee, Ph.D., an associate professor at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont. and one of the associate directors of CIPSRT. While PTSD has received a lot of media attention, she said, “we’re also seeing social anxiety, we’re seeing issues with depression, and from the physical side, we’re seeing injuries. They are higher than the general population.”
Dr. MacPhee stressed the importance of making sure that public-safety personnel are mentally and physically fit. “They’re looking after all of us; we have a responsibility to look after them as well.”
The three-day summit was sponsored by Wounded Warriors Canada (WWC), a national organization based in Whitby, Ont. that assists military veterans and first responders with operational stress injuries. The attendees included CIPSRT’s associate directors, scientific director and public-safety steering committee, as well as representatives from the public-safety sectors across the country.
“One of the things that we left St. John’s with,” said WWC executive director Scott Maxwell, “was a clear understanding about the significant need that exists to support our public-safety personnel members and the families that have been affected by occupational stress injuries.”
Among the objectives of the summit were to evaluate whether an entity like CIPSRT was necessary and to discuss how to determine research priorities, attract partnerships and coordinate funding, he added. “If you left feeling confident about one thing,” said Maxwell, “it was that everybody agreed that an institute like CIPSRT was needed.”
Although there are significant gaps in how Canada has been addressing the health of these workers, “there’s willingness among the stakeholders to work together for the benefit of the health and wellness of all public-safety personnel in Canada,” he said. “When the gap presents itself, you seek to fill it.
“I think Wounded Warriors Canada, in partnership with the likes of CIPSRT, and then the stakeholders, will have the ability to make significant strides and impact going forward.”
Dr. MacPhee said that CIPSRT’s strategy was still in the process of being developed, but that she and research colleagues had already conducted national surveys about health and wellness among paramedics, to learn what the main concerns were. “From a mental-health perspective, they’re suffering,” she said, noting that workers who receive physical injuries are more likely to suffer from mental-health issues and vice-versa.
“We have an assessment tool that will be available online very shortly through the CIPSRT site,” added Dr. MacPhee, “and we also are going to be releasing a number of publications in the next few months as well, to show the results that we’ve found and share that information.
“For us, it’s about making sure that we keep people involved and we keep people informed of what’s happening. That’s a big concern, a big priority for us.”
Maxwell said that WWC was “proud to sponsor this summit,” elaborating that the event had demonstrated how an organization like CIPSRC is necessary to guide other groups like WWC on how to invest in this area.
“We’re excited about the progress being made here.”
WorkSafeBC offers tips to protect employees from wildfire smoke
RICHMOND, B.C. – As wildfires continue to rage throughout British Columbia this summer, the province’s occupational health and safety authority has issued recommendations for employers on how to protect workers from exposure to smoke from the fires. A July 26 news release from WorkSafeBC suggested that employers should reduce the amount of time that workers spend outdoors, while minimizing physical activity for outdoor workers and having them use N95 half-face respirators. For indoor workplaces, employers should inspect their air-conditioning systems and make sure the filters are clean and working properly; they should also reduce the intake of outdoor air and use portable air cleaners with high-efficiency particulate air filters or electrostatic precipitators, said WorkSafeBC. The release also included links to the organization’s web pages on heat stress, fighting wildfires and emergency-response planning. About 4,260 square kilometres have burned in the province since April, according to media reports.
Conference Board report profiles employers’ mental-health programs
NATIONAL – A recent report from the Conference Board of Canada (CBOC) has provided recommendations and resources for employers who want to initiate well-being programs for workers, based on analyses of four companies with successful mental-health initiatives. Published online on June 2, Mental Health and Well-Being in the Workplace: What Works and Why It Makes Business Sense is based on discussions, literature reviews and roundtable events with academics, consultants and employers, and it also contains profiles of the well-being programs of Barclays, RBS, Unilever and Bupa U.K., according to a press release that CBOC sent out on July 28. “Employers around the globe are focused on the well-being of their employees and many have started well-being programs,” the release stated. “The returns on a well-being program with impact can be outsized.” The 29-page report is available from the CBOC website for $220.