Citing safety fear amid coronavirus outbreak, union files complaint against PeaceHealth

State regulators are investigating after a nurses’ union filed a complaint against PeaceHealth, alleging it was failing to provide a safe work environment for workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Washington State Nurses Association is accusing PeaceHealth of not giving nurses the personal protective gear they need while working at its St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham and of other actions it said could harm them.

The union, which represents 900 nurses at the hospital, filed the complaint on March 11, the day after the Whatcom County Health Department reported its first case of the new coronavirus.