Violence. Still Not Part of the Job

FRONT AND CENTRE BCNU representatives from across BC met with politicians in Victoria to raise concerns about violence against nurses, calling for all-party support to make violence prevention and safe staffing a real priority for health authorities and the government.

When nurses from across the province gathered in Victoria to meet with MLAs this October, they carried a message that could not be ignored: violence in health care is escalating, and the failure to take meaningful action is standing in the way of rebuilding the nursing workforce needed to deliver safe care.

The meetings marked the launch of the BC Nurses’ Union’s new “Violence. Still Not Part of the Job” campaign – a renewed and urgent effort demanding the provincial government and health authorities finally confront the crisis of violence in health-care settings. 

“We spent our time in Victoria ensuring every MLA – regardless of their political stripe – acknowledges the reality facing nurses on the front lines,” says BCNU President Adriane Gear. “We expect that all political parties in this province make violence prevention and safe staffing a real priority.”

For Gear, the message is clear: violence in health care is not a new issue – but it is one that has been allowed to worsen.

FACE TIME Green Party leader Emily Lowan attended the event and spoke with BCNU South Fraser Valley regional council member Glesy Banton-Victoria and Central Vancouver regional council member Kristina Hernandez

A Crisis That Hasn’t Gone Away

BCNU first launched its “Violence. Not Part of the Job” campaign in 2017, sparking public awareness about the assaults, threats and abuse nurses face daily. But eight years later, the problem persists – and in many ways, it has worsened.

Across emergency departments, psychiatric units, medical-surgical wards, community settings and long-term care homes, nurses from every designation continue to experience physical attacks, emotional abuse and harassment, most often from patients and visitors. The trauma is taking an enormous human toll on nurses across the province, pushing many out of the profession altogether and worsening the staffing shortages that fuel even more violence.

“Violence leaves lasting scars – physically, emotionally and professionally,” says Gear. “Every act of violence pushes another nurse out of the profession. We cannot continue to accept this as the cost of care.”

The new campaign is building on BCNU’s past advocacy, but with a sharper focus on solutions – and a direct link to the union’s ongoing efforts to implement minimum nurse-to-patient ratios across the province.

BROAD SUPPORT Former Conservative Party leader John Rustad also spoke at the event.

The Violence and Nurse-to-Patient Ratio Connection

Research consistently shows that the root causes of aggression in health care stem from systemic conditions – not from individual patients or workers. The 2020 UBC study ‘Workplace Violence Among British Columbia Nurses Across Different Roles and Contexts,’ found that workplace factors such as inadequate staffing, heavy workload, long wait times and lack of resources were among the leading contributors to patient aggression toward nurses.

Emergency departments, psychiatric units and medical-surgical floors – areas that face high patient volumes and severe staffing shortages – also report high rates of workplace violence. The study found that patients were the primary source of physical and verbal assaults, while threats and emotional abuse often came from both patients and family members.

“The correlation between staffing and violence is undeniable,” says Gear. “When nurses are stretched thin, patients wait longer for care. Frustration builds, tensions rise and aggression becomes more likely,” she explains.

Gear says minimum nurse-to-patient ratios ensure that nurses have the time, capacity and resources to respond promptly, de-escalate early and provide consistent, compassionate care that prevents anger from turning into threats or physical harm. More nurses on the floor means calmer units, fewer delays, safer interactions and better outcomes for everyone – which is why violence prevention cannot be separated from safe staffing.

A growing body of evidence also links heavy workloads to increased incidents of emotional and physical violence from patients and families. Nurses report that when they can’t meet patients’ needs because of unsafe staffing levels, they become the immediate target for anger and fear.

BCNU’s campaign drives home the message that the same conditions making care unsafe for nurses also make it unsafe for patients. “When nurses don’t feel safe, patients aren’t safe either,” says Gear. 

Nurses Have Real Solutions

During the campaign launch, BCNU presented MLAs with a set of 10 violence prevention measures for the government and health employers to act on, developed directly from the experiences and expertise of frontline nurses. Together, they call for stronger staffing, safer environments and clear accountability. 

At the provincial level, the union is urging government to fully implement minimum nurse-to-patient ratios, establish a standardized provincial model for relational security officers, modernize security infrastructure such as alert systems and weapons detection, strengthen data collection and monitoring and finally fulfill longstanding commitments contained in the 2016 Nurses’ Bargaining Association memorandum of understanding on workplace violence prevention. 

For health authorities, the measures focus on the day-to-day realities nurses face: conducting rigorous risk assessments and appropriate patient placement, providing mandatory role-specific training, improving incident reporting and debriefing supports, adopting safer environmental and access-control designs and ensuring leaders are fully accountable for creating and maintaining a culture of safety.

The measures presented underscore the fact that nurses are not only raising the alarm, but putting practical, evidence-informed solutions directly on the table.

“These recommendations reflect not only our members’ lived experiences, but also their professional expertise in building safer workplaces,” says Gear. “Nurses know what the problems are. Nurses also have solutions. It is time to listen to them.”

A Health-Care System Under Pressure 

The urgency behind the renewed “Violence. Still Not Part of the Job,” campaign is rooted in a health-care system that is straining under the weight of chronic short staffing, rising patient acuity and unprecedented levels of workplace violence. Nowhere is this pressure more visible than in BC’s emergency departments – often described as ‘pressure cookers’ and a flashpoint for patient frustration, long wait times and volatile behaviour.

Nurses working in these environments describe a landscape where increasing complexity meets dwindling resources: patients waiting hours or even days for beds, patients and their families overwhelmed by uncertainty and staff stretched far beyond safe limits. The result is a combustible mix that places both nurses and patients at risk.

Nurses’ responses to a province-wide BCNU survey conducted last year revealed some startling statistics around the regularity and frequency of workplace incidents, including the experience of physical violence and verbal or emotional abuse and exposure to illicit substances and weapons. On a monthly basis, a staggering 81 percent of nurses reported that they experience verbal and/or emotional abuse, 61 percent said their units are exposed to illicit substances and 39 percent reported being exposed to weapons. Nearly half reported working short-staffed every day and more than a third say they are seriously considering leaving the profession or are already making plans to do so.
The latest Statistics Canada data show BC’s systemic nursing shortage continues with close to 5,000 current vacancies.

BCNU warns that unless staffing levels improve and systemic pressures are urgently addressed – through violence-prevention measures, leadership accountability and the rapid implementation of minimum nurse-to-patient ratios – the system will continue to buckle under the pressure. 

“The province cannot hope to retain or recruit the nurses needed to stabilize emergency departments if those workplaces remain unsafe, unpredictable and unsupported,” says Gear. “Our violence campaign makes it clear: protecting nurses is inseparable from protecting patient care, and the status quo is no longer tenable.”

NURSE-LED SOLUTIONS BCNU Vice President Tristan Newby speaks to MLAs about BCNU’s 10 violence prevention measures

What Comes Next

As BCNU continues its renewed fight against violence in health care, members can expect to see much more in the months ahead. The union will be rolling out a dedicated social media campaign featuring nurses’ first-hand accounts – powerful stories that underscore both the human impact of workplace violence and the urgent need for meaningful change. 

A broader member awareness campaign is also underway, reinforcing the message that safer working conditions are essential not only for nurses, but for every patient who depends on the system. This advocacy will run in parallel with the work underway to bargain a new NBA collective agreement, where workplace safety remains a central priority. 

“We brought the campaign imagery from the current campaign and past campaigns with us to the first day of bargaining to send a clear and unmistakable message that nurses’ calls for safe workplaces are not new, they’re not negotiable and they will not go unheard,” says Gear. “BCNU is committed to keeping this issue at the forefront – and to ensuring that every member has a strong voice in the fight for safer, more respectful and more sustainable health-care environments across the province.”

UPDATE (Winter 2025)