The Glass Protection in front of VAC offices

[mariomike]

Mind our entire H1N! strategy was to issued every front line worker a small bottle of hand gel a week.  :

Ours was written by a worker pretty much on his own time,.....................when our *cough* Deputy Superindentant*cough* saw me walking with a box of paper masks from stores she had the shift I/C come down and try and shit on me because "if his unit has them all the units will expect them". :tempertantrum:

During SARS1, 436 of Toronto's 850 paramedics were placed on a 10-day working quarantine.

During SARS2, over 400 more ( for some, it was their second time ) were placed on another 10-day working quarantine.

That meant full isolation when we got home. Continuously wearing an N95 respirator. Even with the N95 on, you had to stay at least 3 metres away from your family.

As per the Collective Agreement, during the working quarantine we were paid double-time.

SARS-like illnesses developed in 62 Toronto paramedics, and suspected or probable SARS requiring hospitalization developed in 4 others.

 

[Bluebulldog]

A far less sinister explanation would be that it is a precautionary measure against infectious diseases (from people coughing, hacking, sneezing, etc).

I actually pictured someone working at a public counter under a buffet style sneeze guard.......

 

[Bluebulldog]

Perhaps that is not such a bad thing.

Sorry Mike, I read my post and realize that it came off a bit wrong. Ensuring employee safety is indeed a responsibility, and a good thing.

Spending taxpayer dollars on knee jerk reactions, to concerns, or feelings, without proper anaysis is not. I have seen far too many of these done.

I'm with Danjanou on his post. CPI training for any front line staff should be the first strategy employed by any employer. Giving a member of staff the tools to resolve confict themselves often gives a level of competence and confidence, that no glass bubble will fix.

 

[Danjanou]

Yup bringing someone into what looks like a prison style environment and then expecting them to not act out is optimistic even by "holistic" social engineering standards. :

Had a case years ago they put a jail release in a high tech interview booth basically a small narrow room with two chairs and a desk with a Plexiglas shield down the centre dividing it into two parts.  Of course he was automatically directed to that room because he had been incarcerated and that saw the SOP. Person seeing him left him in there while they went to get some paper work or whatever and when they came back he was whigging out, banging the glass, screaming etc. Panic button pressed and security called to remove the guy. A review of his file would have shown he was claustrophobic and should never have been in there in the first place let alone left alone for even a couple of minutes. Common sense and some basic prep work are often not the hallmark of those who serve our most vulnerable members of society it seems.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Common sense and some basic prep work are often not the hallmark of those who serve our most vulnerable members of society it seems.

And for those who don't do the bit in yellow, you get the solutions that assume NOBODY does the bits in yellow.

 

[the 48th regulator]

I remember some of the shenanigans, and things I said to VAC as I fought the system over the years, that a Glass window was needed.  I have known of guys showing up with swords, knives guns, and even handcuffing themselves to chairs.

They are dealing with injured people, that have been trained to destroy the enemy, and if the members perceives VAC as the enemy....

I remember telling one gal, and this was just after the Oklahoma bombing, that VAC was lucky that I did not have a license to drive.  When she asked why, I told her "Have you not been watching the news lady??  That was a government building you know!"  Luckily, she didn't alert the authorities!

dileas

tess

 

[Danjanou]

I remember some of the shenanigans, and things I said to VAC as I fought the system over the years, that a Glass window was needed.  I have known of guys showing up with swords, knives guns, and even handcuffing themselves to chairs.

They are dealing with injured people, that have been trained to destroy the enemy, and if the members perceives VAC as the enemy....

I remember telling one gal, and this was just after the Oklahoma bombing, that VAC was lucky that I did not have a license to drive.  When she asked why, I told her "Have you not been watching the news lady??  That was a government building you know!"  Luckily, she didn't alert the authorities!

dileas

tess

The highlighted part is important. A sheet of plexiglass ain't going to stop a bullet , a sword or even a fist. Ensuring the poor guy in front of you does not preceive you as the enemy may.

 

[mariomike]

This discussion reminds me of the counter service scene in a Michael Douglas movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eREiQhBDIk

 

[The Bread Guy]

This discussion reminds me of the counter service scene in a Michael Douglas movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eREiQhBDIk

"Falling Down" - a risk manager's worst nightmare....

 

[Words_Twice]

I remember some of the shenanigans, and things I said to VAC as I fought the system over the years, that a Glass window was needed.  I have known of guys showing up with swords, knives guns, and even handcuffing themselves to chairs.

They are dealing with injured people, that have been trained to destroy the enemy, and if the members perceives VAC as the enemy....

I remember telling one gal, and this was just after the Oklahoma bombing, that VAC was lucky that I did not have a license to drive.  When she asked why, I told her "Have you not been watching the news lady??  That was a government building you know!"  Luckily, she didn't alert the authorities!

dileas

tess

You are lucky you are not behind bars, that is a very serious threat to make.

 

[Danjanou]

You are lucky you are not behind bars, that is a very serious threat to make.

yes it is, however as Tess ain't posting from his cell, sounds like in this case the front line staffer through a combination of training, experience  and/or temprement saw it for what it was. Not a threat but someone who perceived themsleves to be in a desperate situation  and needed help and was venting.

If I had to lay charges against evey client in the past 23 years who has threatened or verbally abused me I'd get no other work done.

 

[blackberet17]

Actually, there have been incidents at VAC offices in the past, which brought about not only the glass protection, but also redesigns of hearing rooms and the doors to and from said rooms.

These incidents rarely make it out to the press. A quick Google search will not yield anything for a number of pages. We were only told about one incident recently, out West, through an internal memorandum.

There was an incident in Australia in 2006, which may have spurred changes in numerous districts. The Vietnam veteran walked into a DVA office in Melbourne, and shot himself in the foyer.

There have, of course, been bomb threats, clients who had made threats in the past towards VAC staff in general. Probably no more or less than say, someone making threats towards the Canada Revenue Agency.

There was a long stretch of time, after 9-11, where the Atrium to the HQ building in Charlottetown, which is open to the public, was actually closed to said public.

 

[mariomike]

Actually, there have been incidents at VAC offices in the past, which brought about not only the glass protection, but also redesigns of hearing rooms and the doors to and from said rooms.

These incidents rarely make it out to the press.

From the VAC Occupational Health and Safety Audit:

"Reporting a health and safety incident in VAC can be awkward and time-consuming, especially if there is no support staff available to help. Perhaps that is why health and safety officers from Charlottetown, doing a tour of selected field offices, learned from talking to employees that many "happenings", including near-misses are recorded only in memories, unless there is actual injury and the subsequent need to involve provincial workers compensation plans."