J A N U A R Y | F E B R U A R Y | M A R C H 2 0 1 9 W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N A T I O N A L N U R S E 9
the California Nurses Association/National
Nurses United.
Workers in the health care and social assis-
tance industry face extremely high rates of
workplace violence. Between 2011 and 2016,
as reported in the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statis-
tics Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, at
least 58 hospital workers died as a result of
violence in their workplaces. In
2016, the Government Accounta-
bility Office found that health
care workers at inpatient facilities
were five to 12 times more likely
to experience nonfatal workplace
violence than workers overall.
This bill covers a wide variety
of workplaces, including hospitals,
residential treatment facilities,
non-residential treatment
settings, medical treatment or
social service settings in correc-
tional or detention facilities,
psychiatric treatment facilities,
substance use disorder treatment centers,
community care settings such as group homes
and mental health clinics, and federal health
care facilities such as those operated by the
Veterans Administration and the Indian
Health Service, as well as fieldwork settings
such as home care and home-based hospice,
and emergency services and transport services.
Minimum standard requirements
include unit-specific assessments and
implementation of prevention measures,
including physical changes to the environ-
ment, staffing for patient care and security,
employee involvement in all steps of the
plan, hands-on training, robust record-
keeping requirements including a violent
incident log, and protections for employees
to report workplace violence to their
employer and law enforcement, among
other requirements.
"We know that violence can be prevented
when employers establish plans that are
tailored to fit the risks at each workplace
and each patient care unit with the input of
nurses and other workers at the bedside,"
said Ross. "Nurses look forward to working
with Congress on the Workplace Violence
Prevention for Health Care and Social Serv-
ice Workers Act, and we encourage every
representative to cosponsor this legislation."
—Staff report
