Union president 'not confident' smaller healthcare employers are ready
Nova Scotia’s new workplace harassment regulation, which took effect September 1, is poised to reshape the experience of nurses across the province. For the first time, employers must implement anti-harassment and anti-bullying policies, a move that health care leaders say will bring long-overdue recognition to the psychological safety of frontline workers.
Janet Hazelton, president of the Nova Scotia Nurses Union, welcomes the change. “We have fairly good legislation and regulations around physical injuries… but up until this point, didn’t really have anything that we could point to if someone was experiencing mental harassment or psychological harm,” Hazelton says. “Now this new regulation will… mandate all employers in the province of Nova Scotia to have an anti-harassment, anti-bullying policies and procedures.”
Clear process for reporting
Hazelton emphasizes the regulation gives nurses a clear process to follow if they experience harassment. “Workers will be able to say, ‘Okay, these are the steps I take if this is what I think is happening to me.’”
The regulation also empowers workers to file complaints with the province’s Department of Labour’s Occupational Health and Safety Division—an option that did not exist before. Inspectors will now routinely check for anti-harassment policies during workplace visits, alongside existing safety checks. “It’s going to put a lot more onus on employers in this province to make sure that workers… are being treated in a psychologically safe workplace,” Hazelton says. “Sometimes it’s worker to worker, sometimes it’s manager to worker, and sometimes it’s public to worker.”
Small employers face steep learning curve
Hazelton is candid about the readiness of employers. “No, I’m not confident… especially some of my smaller employers, like small long-term care facilities,” she says. While larger organizations already have policies in place, smaller healthcare providers may struggle to comply. However, she notes the Department of Labour’s commitment to education and support: “They’re going to provide them with assistance on how to write the policy and how to govern. They’re going to provide them with education… they’re not coming in the first six weeks with a hammer.”
Public abuse remains a major challenge
For nurses, the issue of harassment—especially from the public—remains acute. “The public patience level decreased enormously since COVID,” Hazelton observes. “Oftentimes they’ll be abusive, verbally abusive to nurses. That’s very common… Physical and verbal abuse is probably… leading the way now for injuries in nursing over soft tissue injury. So it’s unreal.”
New law gives nurses leverage
Hazelton believes the regulation gives nurses and their unions new leverage to demand action. “Employers figure it out… You cannot allow these patients to continue to abuse nurses. It’s against the law. So, figure it out employer.”
She argues that psychological safety should be treated as seriously as physical safety. “If someone gets on a roof without a hard hat, somebody’s getting fined… We want to make it so that psychological injury is taken just as seriously as physical injuries, and that’s what we think this will do.”
Hazelton is optimistic that, over time, the new regulation will change workplace culture.
As Nova Scotia nurses adjust to the new regulatory landscape, the hope is that psychological safety will become as ingrained in workplace culture as wearing a hard hat or fastening a seatbelt—a habit, and a right, that no one can ignore.
