A mental health facility in Brockville, Ont., is facing five charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act relating to alleged worker safety violations.
The Ontario Ministry of Labour says the charges against the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group, operating as Brockville Mental Health Centre, follow a ministry investigation into an October incident.
A ministry spokesman says the Oct. 10 incident involved a nurse who was stabbed with a pen by a patient in the forensic treatment unit.
The ministry said Wednesday the centre had failed to provide sufficient information, instruction and supervision to protect an employee from workplace violence or the risk thereof from a patient.
It also accuses the facility of failing to implement safety devices, measures and procedures to protect an employee from workplace violence or risk from a patient.
Similar charges were announced Tuesday against the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health over an incident in January at a CAMH facility in Toronto, where a nurse was allegedly beaten by a patient.
In the Brockville case, a first appearance is scheduled at the Ontario Court of Justice in Brockville on March 11.
Linda Haslam-Stroud, president of the Ontario Nursing Association, says health and safety act charges haven't been proven effective in persuading health care providers to ensure safe workplaces.
"It seems that it's going to take criminal charges against the CEO, directors, and managers to make health care employers take seriously their responsibility for ensuring our workplaces are safe," she said in an emailed statement.
"We need police and Crown attorneys to step up and enforce the law before another nurse is killed at work."
This content appears as provided to The Globe by the originating wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.