January 26, 2007—Healthcare workers were not adequately protected during Ontario’s SARS crisis, says the long-awaited final report of a provincial commission of inquiry.
Hospitals failed to grasp the distinctions between infection control and worker safety, and the Ministry of Labor, which had not been exercising its authority in the healthcare setting in the lead-up to the outbreak, found itself sidelined, the report says.
Despite the fact that hospitals are as dangerous a workplace as mines and factories, the Ministry of Labor didn’t have the presence in healthcare settings that it has in the mining and manufacturing sectors, Justice Archie Campbell says in his report.
Campbell says his primary message is that healthcare worker safety should take primacy in future outbreaks, and that those directing the responses shouldn’t wait for scientific proof before ratcheting up precautions.
Campbell says this principle should apply to planning for a flu pandemic, suggesting provincial planners ignore a heated debate over whether inexpensive surgical masks or more costly N95 respirators should be worn by healthcare workers during a pandemic and opt for the respirators.
The report is available online.
