About SWITCH BC
Everyone working in healthcare has the right to be safe, healthy, and thrive on the job and return home safely to family and friends.
All major sectors in B.C. have established associations, alliances, or partnerships to focus on industry-specific perspectives and to develop and introduce industry-wide health and safety services and products.
That’s why SWITCH BC – which stands for Safety, Wellbeing, Innovation, Training and Collaboration in Healthcare – brings together a unique organizational model that includes unions, physicians, and employers to look at the needs from a broad perspective.
SWITCH BC was created to take a collaborative, provincewide approach to health and safety management, psychological safety, and wellbeing programs. We connect with community partners to identify best practices and any systemic gaps or inconsistencies to ensure everyone in every healthcare workplace is supported and their health and safety issues are heard and addressed. Together, we support collaboration and coordination at a provincewide level to improve and create systems that positively impact the lives of the dedicated and compassionate health care workers in B.C.
SWITCH BC is an independent, not-for-profit organization. Directors on our Board are nominated by health authorities, the BC Nurses’ Union, BC General Employees’ Union, Hospital Employees’ Union, Health Science Professional Bargaining Association, Doctors of BC, Resident Doctors of BC, affiliate care providers, Ambulance Dispatch and Ambulance Paramedics Bargaining Association, WorkSafeBC, and the Ministry of Health. The Chair is appointed by the Minister of Health.
History of SWITCH BC
The groundwork for SWITCH BC was established in 2019 in the Recommendation Report: New Occupational Health and Safety Organization. The report detailed the governance structure of SWITCH BC and key priorities for collaborative work in occupational health and safety in healthcare, and reflected Memorandum of Agreements across different collective agreements (Ambulance Paramedics and Ambulance Dispatchers Bargaining Association, Community Bargaining Association, Facilities Bargaining Association, Health Science Professionals Bargaining Association, Nurses’ Bargaining Association, and Resident Doctors of BC) and the Physician Master Agreement.
Organizational Strategic Objectives
Promote and support safe workplaces across the health system and support members to achieve a culture of safety where there will be no harm to staff.
Develop and implement a provincial system which allows for equitable access to business intelligence and uses data to drive action, improvement, innovation, and change.
Organizational Goals
- Promote a provincial safety management system in healthcare by developing an occupational health and safety (OHS) provincial framework aligned with the Health Safety Management System (HSMS) Canadian Standards Association (CSA) standard.
- Support development of provincial programs, promote best practices, and enhance prevention programs with the goal of improving workplace health and safety and eliminating injuries.
- Promote mental health and wellbeing of health care teams through the development of a provincial framework for mental health and psychological safety aligned with the CSA Psychological Safety Standard.
- Provide system-wide OHS leadership and engagement to accelerate innovation and improvements and enhance a strong culture of safety for healthcare.
- Establish an integrated and transparent provincial business intelligence system.
- Continue to roll out and sustain the OHS Resource Centre for JOHSCs.