Labor Unions Petition OSHA for Standard to Prevent Workplace Violence in Health Care

Safety and Health Magazine, 13 July 2016  

A number of labor unions are calling on OSHA to create a standard aimed at preventing workplace violence in the health care and social services industries.  A petition was sent July 12 to Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez from a coalition of unions, including the AFL-CIO, American Federation of Teachers, Communications Workers of America, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Service Employees International Union and United Steelworkers.  It claims OSHA’s current efforts are ‘insufficient’ to protect health care workers, and cites Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing that workers in health care and social assistance experienced 52 percent of workplace violence incidents in 2014.

On 18 July 2016, The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, Canada was fined $80,000 following a workplace violence incident where staff members were physically assaulted by a patient. Read the full story here.

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