WSNA continues to hear of serious, life-threatening workplace violence events occurring on campus at VM. Since COVID started in 2019, the hospital, in the opinion of WSNA, has failed to hold and conduct meetings of the safety committee as required by law. Today, WSNA filed a complaint with Labor and Industries demanding that a full investigation be conducted into the VM’s alleged failure to maintain a safe workplace and abide by WA state law in regard to functioning of the hospital’s safety committee, maintaining and enforcing a workplace safety plan, and taking measures to address recognized workplace hazards.   You can find the complaint letter on this page.

Please note –

• If you were the victim of workplace violence and would like to speak with the L&I investigator (“Industrial Hygienist”), please let your nurse rep, Sara Frey, know. (sfrey@wsna.org)
• If you are asked to meet with an L & I investigator, you do not have to have your manager present. We want to insure nurses feel empowered to speak freely about what they have experienced. If a manager shows up to the meeting, please let the hospital know you wish to meet with L & I without them.
• You may request to have a union representative with you. Please contact your nurse representative, Sara Frey sfrey@wsna.org to make arrangements.

 If you are faced with a situation where you feel there is a clear and present hazard impacting your safety and health, please know that you have rights. Immediately notify your supervisor of the situation. Call 911 if indicated.  Once the situation is resolved, please file an ADO. Other actions to consider are filing an L & I and OSHA complaint, incident report and police report.

You may have to make a decision about accepting an assignment involving abnormally dangerous conditions that pose an imminent risk to your safety and health, and could potentially cause serious injury or death.

If you have already accepted the assignment your professional license may be at risk if you fail to continue that assignment, unless you have handed off the assignment and been relieved of responsibility for the patient. If you decide to refuse the assignment, you should remain at the workplace and offer to perform other work that does not pose an imminent risk to your safety and health (e.g., an assignment for which you are provided proper safety equipment and training).

A decision to refuse an assignment could result in disciplinary action taken against you by the employer. Under the collective bargaining agreement between the employer and WSNA, there must be "just cause" for any discipline. WSNA would defend you if you are subjected to unjust discipline.

Questions or concerns – Please contact your nurse rep, Sara Frey sfrey@wsna.org