Disturbing data is sparking advocate to reignite calls to designate some health-care jobs as high-risk. A report, commissioned by the Manitoba Nurses Union (MNU) and Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals (MAHCP), found a 41 per cent rise in health-care workers missing work due to violence-related injuries. “We recognize that preventing violence in health care is complex, but that cannot become an excuse for accepting it,” said Darlene Jackson, MNU’s president, in a Tuesday media release. The report from Centre West Consulting used Manitoba’s Workers Compensation Board statistics and provincial enforcement records to compile the date. It found 520 instances of assaults and violent acts took health-care workers off the job for a period in 2025. That made up 42 per cent of all time-loss injury claims that were approved in 2025. In 2022, the report said, 368 health-care worker claims were approved. Calls for action As of Nov. 4, unionized nurses have grey-listed four health-care facilities and designated them as unsafe work environments for nurses. This includes Seven Oaks Hospital, Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre, Thompson General Hospital, and most recently, St. Boniface Hospital. “Right now, an assault that physically harms or causes a psychological injury, does not have to be reported to Manitoba’s workplace safety regulator,” said Jason Linklater in a statement on behalf of MAHCP. Linklater and Jackson are calling on the provincial government to make changes, including designating sectors with high rates of violence as being a high-risk, adding 10 more permanent safety and health officer positions, and considering the creation of a dedicated violence and harassment unit. “Employers must take every reasonable step to protect workers, and government must use its authority when those obligations are not met,” Jackson said. “A policy on a shelf does not keep frontline staff safe.”
