B.C. hospital security worker frustrated with limitations to deal with violence, drug use

A frontline security worker is going public with his frustrations over how he’s allowed to deal with aggression, violence, and drug use in hospitals in the Fraser Health Authority region.

This worker, whose identity 1130 NewsRadio has agreed to protect due to possible consequences of speaking out, feels there are polices in place that keep him from effectively doing his job.

“We can not remove aggressive persons from the property or stop anyone from smoking illicit substances,” said the security worker.

“We can ask them to stop, but we just have to wait for the police to arrive and, while this happens, I cannot do anything physically like we used to be allowed to if the person is non-compliant or aggressive,” he added.

“‘It’s actually quite comical. The BC Nurses Union constantly brings safety to the forefront of their concerns, while within Fraser Health, our Integrated Protection Services coordinators and managers who oversee us Relational Security Officers and supervisors directly, put policies in place to make our job more difficult.”

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He is also concerned that a plan to provide security officers with handcuffs has not materialized and questions the quality of training provided to officers.

1130 NewsRadio took the worker’s concerns to the head of Fraser Health’s Integrated Protection Services, who defended the Relational Security Officer program, which was created by the province in 2023 to improve safety for workers and patients in the health-care system.

“Security is a significant issue in health-care,” said director Jonathan Acorn. “Our relational security officers are an essential and vital part of our security program. Our RSOs are involved in removing persons from the property nearly daily.”

But Acorn admits that using physical force is not part of the process. 

“We do not want our officers physically engaging with people to remove them from the property. We ask them to ascertain why they are there and ask them to leave if that’s appropriate. They will escort them to the property line, and if they refuse to leave, then we call police for assistance.”

He adds that there are similar policies in place when it comes to the use of illicit substances in health-care facilities.

“We ask the officers to ascertain if they are a patient first. If they are, then we work with the clinical team. If they are not, then they are asked to leave the property. If they don’t leave the property, we try to escort them and, if they don’t leave, we will then have the police support us,” he explained.

Acorn also defended the level of training relational security officers receive.

“We have a provincially standardized training program that emphasizes trauma-informed practices, cultural safety, specific health-care scenario-based training, and it is in excess of 268 hours prior to being deployed.”

As for the intention to provide RSOs with handcuffs, Acorn admits the plan has yet to be implemented.

“We are currently working through the processes of finalizing our policies, procedures, and training, making sure officer knowledge is strong to make sure they are prepared to use them once they are issued,” he said.

He did not provide a timeline for when the program would be put in place.

The BC Nurses Union says the Relational Security Officer program offers “a higher quality security experience” compared to contracted-out, third-party services in some health authorities.

“In a health-care setting, you need individuals who have a high degree of skill and education,” said BCNU President Adriane Gear. “We are looking for trauma-informed practice, people with cultural humility, really excellent de-escalation skills, and the ability to intervene.”

Gear feels it is advantageous for hospital security to have a standardized job description and to work directly for the health authority.

“Certainly, from my members perspective, where there are Relational Security Officers, they feel it contributes to a safer work environment. However, they don’t have RSOs in every facility on the province. Many don’t have any kind of provision for security, whether it’s RSO’s or contracted out, particularly in more remote, rural areas,” she said. 

“[Without RSOs] nurses and other health-care workers are left on their own to deal with aggressive and violent patients,” she told 1130 NewsRadio.

She says in some communities, police response time can be up to 90 minutes and longer.

“What we have right now is a real mixed bag around the province. Some facilities are fortunate enough to have RSOs, whether or not they have enough of them is another question, and others have nothing. There are huge inequities for safety in the work environment.”

Gear says that this is concerning as frontline health-care staff deal with rising incidents of violence.

Concerns about job limitations have been voiced to local MLA, critic for Public Safety

Speaking Friday morning, B.C.’s critic for Solicitor General and Public Safety tells 1130 NewsRadio that she’s been hearing from “multiple Relational Security Officers, including supervisors, who have expressed their own concerns about the limitations of their roles.

“Which is that they are actually unable to deal with things like weapons violence, that they actually have policies in place that hinder them from doing the work that’s needed,” Surrey-Cloverdale MLA Elenore Sturko said.

“In some locations, they don’t even wear clothing that is easily recognizable as a security officer, dressing down in a way that would make them not appear as though they’re even providing a security function,” she said. “Part of the intervention of having either police or security or even sheriffs is that the first response is actually just that presence of having a person there in authority that can be a deterrent for violent behaviour.”

“They’re being told that they’re not to go hands-on with individuals, and if they even see, for example, a nurse, being assaulted, they’re asked to step away and call police, and wait for them to attend. Meanwhile, someone could be fighting for their life, which I find to be very disturbing.”

Sturko explains that she has had conversations with Garry Begg, the minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, about the training and licensing of the RSOs, to which she says he confirmed that they are not licensed and “do not have the training that would allow them to deal with things like weapons, which we know in some high risk locations in certain hospitals, has been a persistent issue.”

“I’ve met with Josie Osborne, spoken to the minister of health, and made it clear that there are other alternative solutions to this issue,” Sturko said.

Those other options could include increasing the level of training, and even enacting a pilot program that stations police in high-risk hospitals, the former RCMP officer explained. She adds that other provinces, including Alberta, use peace officers in high-risk hospitals, which she believes is something the province needs to explore.

“There are solutions available in other provinces and other jurisdictions, even outside of our country, employing either police or peace officer trained individuals who are able to go hands-on with individuals, who do have other intervention options available to them. They have a longer horizon of training, and I think it’s something that we seriously need to look at in order to keep our health-care settings safe.”