Northern Health Fined $355,000 After Repeated Failures to Properly Report Incident Investigations

Several failures to prepare full incident investigation reports have resulted in a $355,000 fine for Northern Health.

WorksafeBC issued the fine after inspecting a long-term care facility in Fort St John, in response to a report of violence against a worker.

That inspection found that the incident report submitted by Northern Health lacked key information, such as underlying causes and corrective actions.

According to the agency, that was just one of several incidents in which the employer failed to submit a full investigation report which met their policies.

Northern Health says they are working to improve their reporting system, and hope to address the administrative challenges of the system with WorksafeBC.

They also say they have a robust reporting system and a worker injury rate lower than the provincial average in health care.

With incidents of violence against health care workers on the rise, the province announced in October that they would be training 320 new in-house protection officers.