Occupational health and safety

OHSAH to Publish Research on Nurses Working Overtime A new OHSAH study, led by the Statistics and Evaluations team's Occupational Hygienist Sharla Drebit, shows that full time Registered Nurses are working an increasing amount of overtime hours each year. The highest number of these hours are in the Emergency, Intensive Care and General Medical departments which are therefore contributing the...

May 4th at the Italian Cultural Centre, Vancouver Shoppers Home Health Care and WorkSafeBC are hosting this half-day hands-on workshop for directors of care, floor supervisors and trainers, care aides and other front line staff who provide direct patient care. Attendees will receive instruction from professional trainers on the use of ceiling and floor lifts and other transfer assist devices...

Five years ago, in 2005, David Bland, a vocational rehabilitation counsellor and HSA member from Richmond Mental Health, was murdered at his workplace by a former client. His tragic death served as a sombre reminder that more needs to be done to prevent incidents of violence in the workplace and to protect health care ands social services workers on the...

There is still room available in the two-day OH&S Steward Training workshop on January 18 & 19, 2010 please register as soon as possible if you are interested in attending this workshop. OH&S Steward Training: January 18 & 19, 2010 Eligible stewards should print a pre-registration form off the HSA website http://www.hsabc.org/ (go to Member Services, then Education) and return...

Following the protocol issued by BCs Medical Health Officer, beginning next week health care workers will be offered vaccination against the H1N1 virus. This includes all HSA members who work with vulnerable populations. HSA encourages members to participate in the H1N1 vaccination program. When you receive your H1N1 vaccination, you will also be offered vaccination against seasonal flu. Members should...

Learning Opportunities Near You! DAY LOCATION WORKSHOP NOVEMBER 3 rd Vancouver Joint Committee Boot Camp 12 th Vancouver Incident Investigations 13 th Abbotsford Prevention and Management of Aggressive Behaviour 23 rd Victoria Creating an Exposure Control Plan / Assessing & Controlling Personal Risk 24 th Victoria Hazards, Risks and Inspections 25 th Nanaimo Joint Committee Boot Camp 26 th Kelowna...

Union Affiliates and Labour Council Leadership, please forward to your Health and Safety Activists. Download PDF

The Health Sciences Association of BC (HSA) today released a report by an environmental health expert that recommends a high standard of personal protective equipment use by health care workers to minimize the spread of the deadly H1N1 virus. HSA and its national union, the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), commissioned the study by John Murphy of...

The World Health Organization has declared a world H1N1 flu pandemic. It is uncertain how serious this pandemic will be in terms of how many people infected will be severely affected. However, because H1N1 is a new virus, many people may have little or no immunity against it, and illness may be more severe and widespread as a result. In...

HSA members and stewards, including OHS stewards, are encouraged to help the union gather information about the state of preparedness in your facility for a possible pandemic. Please complete a short online survey to help HSA gather information about the extent to which Health Authorities are prepared to protect the health of employees, as well as patients and their families...