Continued care home workers want residences safer after assaults

Workers at the continued care residences (RAC), where people with severe behavioural problems are housed, are calling for safer working environments and for an end to the trivialization of the violent behaviour they regularly encounter.

“Educators being insulted, assaulted, spat on or threatened with death is not an uncommon phenomenon in a residence with ongoing assistance,” said Isabelle Mantha, APTS national representative for Montérégie-Centre, in an interview.

The Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux (APTS) represents these workers throughout Quebec.

The union organization held demonstrations on Wednesday to denounce the occupational health and safety risks faced by its members.

The continued care residences are neither rehabilitation centres nor intermediate resources. They provide specialized services for people with serious behavioural or intellectual disabilities who can easily become disorganized and violent towards other users or staff.

“The premises must therefore be fenced off, the rooms secured, the furniture fixed to the floor and the televisions protected by a Plexiglas panel, but this is not always the case,” said Mantha.

“The APTS is therefore calling for safer physical premises for its members, but also for an end to the trivialization of the physical and verbal assaults to which they are subjected. Employers must find ways to make the environment safer.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Oct. 30, 2024.