This is a really big subject, so I'll try to distill it down.
Let's take staffing shortages as an example. Again, I go back to our survey results. When we were looking at how staffing shortages impact workplace safety, we heard very clearly from people that they're rushing to get the task done. I think you actually heard from a number of people about the time pressure they feel that they are under when they're working in that chronically short-staffed situation.
When you're working with somebody who has a cognitive impairment, sometimes you need to stop. You need to pause. You need to take time, but if you're in a situation in which you feel you don't have that time or you don't have somebody you can call in to support you in a certain situation, you could potentially be proceeding with an unsafe situation. Effectively, we set you up to fail right from the get-go as a care provider. That's the piece around staffing shortages.
I also don't want to lose sight of the fact that it's a vicious circle. We talk about workplace staffing shortages creating injuries. I mentioned earlier in my remarks that 650 full-time equivalents had been lost. That was the number of work days lost last year in B.C. just because of workplace injuries. Again, it's the vicious cycle that we get into with regard to that. I think the staffing piece is critical.
The education piece is also critical. You heard from several other presenters about the importance of having education on how to approach a situation and how to de-escalate it if it gets to that. That, absolutely, is a core part of what we do at SafeCare BC. But I also think, to go back to my earlier remarks, that having that education available to people before they hit their first practicum is absolutely critical, because by the time you walk in the front door, if you haven't had that education already from the get-go, you're already behind the eight ball.