A worksite intervention using unit-level data on violent events can lead to lower risks of patient-to-worker violence and injury to hospital staff, suggests a study in the January Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).
OSHA has taken the first steps in rulemaking on a possible standard to prevent workplace violence in healthcare and social assistance settings. The agency has issued a Request for Information on whether to propose such a standard and has scheduled a public meeting on Jan. 10, 2017, in Washington, D.C., to discuss strategies for reducing incidents of violence in these workplaces.
A coalition of unions is urging the U.S. Department of Labor to enact a comprehensive workplace violence prevention standard to protect all workers in healthcare and social service settings.
A Birmingham, Alabama social services company was well aware that its employees were being injured by violent clients for several years, yet took no action to protect its workers, according to OSHA, which issued Gateway one general duty clause citation for failing to protect employees from the hazards of physical assault while providing care for adolescent children and teenagers known to exhibit violent behavior tendencies.
When most people think about going into work every day, they probably assume a few things. One of those things is that they won’t be physically assaulted while doing their job. That they will go home at the end of the day without being injured or killed.
