Occupational Health and Safety Protecting the caregivers

Nursing is one of the most hazardous occupations in Canada, with higher rates of illness and injury than almost any other career. Lifting and helping patients is hard physical work and back injuries are one of the most common for nurses.

Nursing is also one of the most dangerous jobs. Nurses are assaulted and verbally abused far too frequently.  There isn’t a nurse working who hasn’t been kicked, scratched, hit or spat on.

Nurses also work with needles, (“sharps”), with latex gloves and equipment, as well as an array of chemicals and pharmaceuticals. And, of course, they work with contagious patients. Nurses were among the victims of the SARS outbreak in Toronto in 2003.

It’s little wonder that Occupational Health and Safety is a major concern for nurses.  Nurses recognize that they cannot provide care for anyone if they are sick and injured.  So, they must also care for themselves and make their workplaces as safe as possible.

A tough OH&S case: Nurses win fight in mould “sick building” case in Calgary

Nurses are willing to go a long way to protect a safe work environment, and they had to go all the way to court in the case of a mould-contaminated unit at the Foothills Hospital in Calgary.

Michelle Senkow, who was Vice President of the UNA local at the hospital at the time, remembers when concerns about mould on a dialysis unit first came to light.

“Just the day before we had this meeting, there were ceiling tiles that had fallen from the roof, from the ceiling, to the floor with a massive bang.  And they had all black stuff on them.  And there was stuff that flew in the air when they fell.  And two people immediately became violently sick, chest pain and everything, and had to be taken to emergency.”

The hospital did not close the unit, or initially accept that mould contamination was a serious problem. 

Many of the staff on the unit were sick and were very concerned about the safety of the dialysis patients who came in to the unit regularly. 68 out of 103 RN nursing staff in the area had health effects as a result of working on the unit.

The nurses and other staff continued to suffer from symptoms, ranging from nosebleeds, to asthma to debilitating headaches. Many were off on sick leave for extended periods with severe health problems.

“It must be clear to everyone that there has been a problem on the unit for some time,” Michelle Senkow said at the time. 

The nurses through their Occupational Health and Safety Committee ensured air quality testing was done; but, the hospital’s initial tests did not lead to any significant action to close or clean up the unit.  The nurses wanted to get their own testing expert involved, but the Hospital would not let him in to take samples.

It wasn’t until UNA pressed the case in provincial court, under the province’s occupational health and safety laws, that the Hospital and provincial department brought in full testing.

Finally the preliminary results confirmed the toxic mould stachybotrus chartarum on the dialysis Unit 27.

Professor Tang Lee of the University of Calgary was the expert in building air safety the nurses brought in. Lee explained that the Stachybotrus is only one of the moulds that produce mycotoxins.

The hospital closed the entire unit and cleaned it out completely before reopening it months later.

Michelle Senkow reported that the months of pressure about the health problems had paid off.  “I still have nurses today coming up and saying, ‘If it wasn't for you and if it wasn't for the union putting the effort into it, we wouldn't be here.  We wouldn't have a new unit.’”