We can’t let violence go unchecked

By Linda Silas, President of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU)

Violence has become a constant threat for nurses and health-care professionals while they’re at work. Across the country, six in 10 nurses report experiencing violence or abuse at work over a one-year period. This rate of violence is unacceptable and wouldn’t be tolerated in other workplaces. 

The impacts are two-fold, both physical and psychological. Nurses experience PTSD, depression and anxiety at higher rates than the general population. No surprise when we know that violence in the workplace is associated with increased mental disorder symptoms. 

Sadly, under-reporting of violence is widespread, which makes tracking it a challenge. But accepted violence-related workers’ compensation claims indicate that rates of violence are growing.   

Here in Ontario, accepted workers’ compensation claims for violence-related incidents have increased nearly threefold since 2012 for all nursing occupations. 

In British Columbia, there were 507 violence-related accepted workers’ compensation claims in 2024, compared to 344 in 2016. In Manitoba, there were 812 workers’ compensation claims accepted in 2024 for nurses who were the victims of assault and violent acts, compared to 298 in 2015.  

Despite how pervasive violence is, accountability is rare. 

A legal analysis of cases involving workplace violence against nurses, published in November 2024, found that few cases make their way to courts in Canada. The analysis found only 12 English-language sentencing decisions between 2006 and 2021 where a nurse was the victim of violence. Only five cases were found under workplace laws where an employer was charged. 

It should go without saying that nurses and health-care professionals need safe work environments to provide patient care. 

When it comes to violence, prevention is key. That means investing in training and prevention programs for workers and designated in-house security personnel, mandating minimum nurse-patient ratios to reduce risks of violence exacerbated by excessive workloads, and enforcing the Criminal Code and occupational health and safety legislation to punish and deter violence. Right now, employers can install violence prevention infrastructure such as weapons detection systems, surveillance cameras and personal alarms for workers. 

When violence does happen, provincial and territorial governments could mandate health-care employers to support nurses and health-care workers, even if it means getting police involved. 

We have the solutions, but we need the political will. That’s why ONA Provincial President Erin Ariss and I made preventing violence the focus of our meetings in Calgary this fall with the federal health minister and Sylvia Jones, Ontario’s Minister of Health. 

The CFNU is urging all Canada’s health ministers to use every tool at their disposal to put an end to violence against health-care workers. Join us and send a letter to Minister Jones demanding that she enact violence prevention programs now.  

This is a systemic challenge that needs a coordinated and multi-faceted approach, but together we can effectively put an end to violence in health workplaces.  

As nurses’ unions, we won’t let the status quo stand. Violence is not and should never be accepted as a part of the job.