Community pharmacies throughout Ontario are posting prominent signage to indicate the use of time-delayed safes to store narcotics, following a provincewide mandate to help deter robberies. Image courtesy Ontario College of Pharmacists
Community pharmacies throughout Ontario are posting prominent signage to indicate the use of time-delayed safes to store narcotics, following a provincewide mandate to help deter robberies.
Earlier this year, the board of directors for the Ontario College of Pharmacists approved updated policies requiring all community pharmacies to install a time-delayed safe for the purpose of securing narcotics. This decision was strongly supported by the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, local police departments, the Ontario Pharmacists Association, and other corporate and independent pharmacy partners.
The mandate applies to more than 4,800 community pharmacies who provide retail services and care to the public in neighbourhoods across the province. Similar mandates have also been implemented in British Columbia and Alberta.
Chair James Morrison says the board carefully considered the benefits of time-delayed safes and associated signage and determined using both was an important step to help protect pharmacy staff, patients, and their communities.
“Robberies can have a serious impact on the physical and mental well-being of pharmacy staff and patients and can lead to reduced access to care for patients whose pharmacies have been directly affected,” says Morrison. “While no single measure can completely prevent robberies, our board felt this mandate, including the required use of prominent signage, was an important deterrence worth implementing in Ontario, given the success of similar measures in other provinces.
“We are very pleased with the response from pharmacies across the province. For Ontarians, seeing signage indicating the use of a time-delayed safe is an important reminder of the decision we believe will help deter pharmacy robberies and their associated harms.”
