National Nurses United

6 N A T I O N A L N U R S E 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 A P R I L | M AY | J U N E 2 0 1 9 NATIONAL T he federal bill sponsored by National Nurses United and authored by Rep. Joe Courtney to protect health care and social serv- ice workers from extremely high rates of workplace violence, H.R. 1309, the Work- place Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act, was on June 11 voted out of the House Committee on Education and Labor. Bill supporters urged House leadership to quickly move the bill, which enjoys bipartisan support, to a full House floor vote. "This vote is a big step forward in passing legislation that would hold our employers accountable, through federal OSHA, for having a prevention plan in place to stop work- place violence before it occurs," said National Nurses United President Jean Ross, RN. "This is literally a life-or-death issue, given the outra- geous rates of violence in America's hospitals, clinics, and social service workplaces. We urge House leadership to schedule a vote on the floor as soon as possible, because every moment we lose puts lives in jeopardy." "Sometimes people think violence only happens in the ER or a psych unit, but I am a medical-surgical nurse; it happens in all units," said Washington, D.C. registered nurse Elaine Sherman, who was assaulted by a patient's family members while helping a fellow RN, who was also being attacked. "I was punched in the face seven or eight times. I didn't take a day off because my patients needed me, but it was very difficult." Sherman emphasized that her assault and incidents like it might have been prevented if her employer had more responsive security personnel in place, additional staffing on the units, and closer scrutiny of visitors. These are preventive measures that could be enfold- ed into violence prevention plans employers would be required to enact under H.R. 1309. "We needed these protections yesterday, because violence doesn't just impact work- ers, it also impacts patients, visitors, family members, and anyone in the vicinity," said Ross. "We all deserve to feel safe in hospi- tals, clinics, and social service settings, which should be places of healing. We urge House leadership to take this to a full floor vote without delay." —Staff report RICK REINHARD National bill to prevent workplace violence advances NNU-sponsored legislation passes out of key committee NEWS BRIEFS

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