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Manitoba Hydro is hiring institutional safety officers for its downtown Winnipeg headquarters, but says those plans were initiated before an employee was assaulted last week in the public atrium by someone with a knife.
Since the attack, which left a man with cuts and an 18-year-old facing multiple charges, the atrium at Manitoba Hydro Place on Portage Avenue has been locked, with no public access.
“We are hiring three security staff with safety officer training to start next week while we are working with Manitoba Justice to build out a full safety officer program,” Hydro spokesperson Peter Chura said in an email.
“We are also continuing to look at potential other changes, such as physical security measures at Manitoba Hydro Place. For the time being, the building remains closed to the public.”
The Canadian Union of Public Employees issued a news release on Wednesday, calling for Hydro to hire ISOs, who have the ability to restrain, detain and arrest suspects.
“It may not be the last health and safety improvement we need to see, but it’s a step in the right direction,” Michelle Bergen, president of CUPE Local 998, said in the release.
Regulatory changes made under the Police Services Act last month by the Manitoba government now allow Hydro and the Manitoba Housing and Renewal Corporation to employ institutional safety officers.
Before that, ISOs primarily worked within the health-care sector and at post-secondary institutions as specialized security personnel with peace officer status.
“I look forward to working with Hydro to get these ISOs hired fast,” Bergen said in the CUPE release.
Chura said the Crown corporation has been working with the province on a plan to implement safety officers at Manitoba Hydro Place “as well as other Hydro facilities” since the changes were made.
“This was underway prior to the incident last Friday,” he said in the email.
Approximately 2,000 employees work in the downtown HQ.
