Media Advisory - ONA President to Make Submission on New Workplace Violence Legislation

TORONTO, Nov. 23 /CNW/ - Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN will be at Queen's Park tomorrow to present input to the Standing Committee on Social Policy on Bill 168, Violence and Harassment in the Workplace.

Ontario nurses have a particular interest in this legislation, proposed to amend the Occupational Health and Safety Act, because of the high incidence of workplace violence suffered by nurses.

ONA member Lori Dupont, RN, was murdered in her workplace - Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital in Windsor - in 2005. A subsequent coroner's jury inquest recommended changes to strengthen the Act.

Haslam-Stroud will appear before the committee at 4:30 pm on Tuesday, November 24.

ONA is the union representing 54,000 front-line registered nurses and allied health professionals and more than 10,000 nursing students providing care in hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, clinics and industry.

What:        ONA President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN, to present input to
                 the Standing Committee on Social Policy regarding Bill 168,
                 Violence and Harassment in the Workplace

    Where:       Committee Room 1, Queen's Park, Toronto

    When:        4:30 pm, Tuesday, November 24, 2009

For further information: Sheree Bond, [phone], ext. 2430, cell: [phone]; Melanie Levenson, [phone], ext. 2369