OSHA Cites Brooklyn Medical Center for Inadequate Workplace Violence Safeguards

Workplace violence is a concern for healthcare professionals worldwide. More attention has been focused on this since the Emergency Nurse Association (ENA) published its landmark study of workplace violence in 2007. The number of sentinel events reported to the Joint Commission under the combined categories of assault, rape and homicide increased after this study and continues to be in the top 10 types of sentinel event reported.

The ASIS International Healthcare Security Council published a whitepaper December 2010 titled Managing Disruptive Behavior and Workplace Violence in Healthcare. Workplace violence has been a hot topic at every security conference or seminar I have attended or presented at for the last 10 years overshadowed only by school security and safety in the wake of tragic school shootings exploited by national media frenzies. A staggering 27% of the healthcare workers taking part in the 2007 ENA study reported experiencing verbal abuse during EVERY SHIFT THEY WORKED!

This has got to stop. Employers must treat workplace violence in ALL forms as serious and intolerable. Healthcare workers have finally started reporting incidents and, when their employer seems to do nothing to help prevent these incidents, have taken their reports to a higher authority. OSHA has started citing hospitals and levying fines for inadequate workplace violence safeguards. A Brooklyn medical facility was recently fined $78,000 for inadequate workplace violence safeguards. Hopefully healthcare providers will take the necessary steps to continually improve their safeguards and stop propagating the violence by failing to take it seriously.