In home and community care, patient safety and employee safety are deeply connected. Unlike most healthcare settings, the home is both the place where care is delivered and the employee’s workplace, creating unique safety considerations for clients, families, care providers, service providers, and funders. Yet these two dimensions of safety are often addressed through separate systems and processes, creating missed opportunities to identify and prevent risk.

This session will explore how patient and employee safety can be approached as a shared responsibility, with a focus on strengthening collaboration between funders, service providers, employees, clients, families, and community partners. Presenters will examine how coordinated approaches to risk prevention, quality improvement, data, and safety practices can support a stronger culture of safety while reinforcing the Internal Responsibility System under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Designed for community care leaders, service providers, funders, and others involved in quality and safety, this session will offer practical insights into how organizations and system partners can better align their approaches to safety. Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of the connections between patient and employee safety and ideas for strengthening shared responsibility and coordinated action in their own organizations and communities.