Nurses no safer at CAMH

After being ordered a year ago to create a safer workplace following a rash of attacks on nurses, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health is being charged by the Ministry of Labour for not complying.

"They (CAMH) failed miserably, in my view, to follow ministry orders to develop a policy properly and follow up, and make sure that everyone was safe," said Ontario Nurses Association president Linda Haslam-Stroud yesterday.

"It's appropriate that charges have been laid."

The centre is charged for not developing and putting into effect workplace violence prevention procedures.

CAMH is also charged under the Occupational Health and Safety Act for failure to assess that Dutch doors – which divide in the middle – were a safety hazard for staff members and for not maintaining equipment.

The ministry got involved with CAMH when the doors first led to critical injury on Nov. 12, 2007 at the Queen St. W. site.

A client jumped on top of a Dutch door, got into a nursing station and assaulted a nurse. She needed surgery for a broken shoulder.

Another nurse suffered multiple injuries.

Days later, a patient attacked a nurse at a nursing station.

Security staff was unable to enter because a door required them to be buzzed in.

The nurse's injuries included a broken jaw.

After investigating, the Ministry of Labour asked the centre to take precautions to protect its workers.

A violence prevention policy had been rolled out in January, said Eric Preston, vice-president of human resources and organizational development at CAMH, adding staff was trained on the policy. "The process was accelerated after the incident," said Preston.

He said the centre met specific orders from the ministry.

But Danielle Latulippe-Larmond, the ONA local president and employee of CAMH, said sending out an email and posting the policy on its corporate website wasn't her idea of safety measures. Soon after the two incidents, the safety of two floors were assessed and Dutch doors changed on one, she said.

"I think they could have definitely done more," she said. "Not just to ensure that staff was safe but to give quality care to clients." Besides the doors, there is need to assess safety alarms, she said.

According to ONA, there have been 23 incidents of violence at CAMH since the middle of September, in which staff were verbally abused, punched, spat on or sexually abused.

There are 570 registered nurses at the centre.

The nurses held a news conference in October alleging the centre had not developed the violence prevention policy the ministry ordered almost a year earlier.

Charges were laid after investigation into the two incidents of violence, said Bruce Skeaff of the Ministry of Labour. The centre can be fined a maximum of $500,000 for each charge, he said.

CAMH is to appear in court Dec. 4.