Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 001 Hazard: UNAPEQUIP

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970: The employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees in that employees were exposed to violence in the workplace: A)On or about October 6, 2010, at 767 Cape Road, Ellenville, NY, the employer operated a 100-bed residential facility for individuals recovering from substance abuse staffed with a single untrained security guard. The employer had not developed or implemented adequate measures to protect its staff from physical assaults, such as stabbing, bludgeoning, punching, kicking, etc., nor had provided training to staff to advise them of how to respond in the event of an actual or threatened physical assault. Among other methods, feasible and acceptable means to abate the hazard of workplace violence at the Renaissance Project include: a.Evaluate the staff communication log to identify clients that exhibit violent behavior and incorporate measures that reduce the likelihood of clients committing violence in the workplace, i.e. increasing security, identifying potential weapons of opportunity and disallowing access to them, transferring violent client to an alternative treatment facility cable of treating such clients, etc. b.Develop an emergency communication plan and train employees on the plan. c.Develop and implement engineering controls such as: *Installing panic buttons in employees' offices, *Issuing hand held alarms or noise devices, *Issuing private channel radios where risk is apparent or may be anticipated. *Ensuring a reliable response system when an alarm is triggered. *Establish a reliable means of emergency communication to notify security personnel and law enforcement in the event of an attack. d.Develop and implement administrative controls such as: *Locking staff offices during the night shift; *Implementing a buddy system; *Determining the behavioral history of new/transferred patients; and *Establishing a system - such as chart tags, log books, or verbal census reports - to identify clients with assaultive behavior problems. Any incident should trigger a review of log books and an evaluation of the current program and procedures to determine the effectiveness of workplace controls. The employer should implement any necessary changes to preventreoccurrences, and should follow written security procedures in order to prevent employee exposure to workplace violence. e.Ensure sufficient security presence/personnel on facility floors at all times (particularly evening and night shifts). Ensure that doors are locked in the evening and that procedures are in place for (re)entry to the facility. f.Establish open communication between security employees and other employees to help identify problematic clients and/or situations that could result in an incident. g.Train security personnel in crisis intervention, and workplace violence prevention policies and programs. h.Conduct an annual site specific workplace violence hazard analysis using recognized guidelines and publications such as, but not limited to, OSHA's Guidelines for Preventing Workplace Violence for Health Care & Social Service Workers (Publication No. OSHA 3148-01R 2004) and NIOSH's Violence: Occupational Hazards in Hospitals (Publication No. 2002-101), to identify hazards, conditions, operations and/or situations that could lead to violence. The employer must address and correct any deficiencies identified during the annual hazard analysis. ABATEMENT CERTIFICATION AND DOCUMENTATION IS REQUIRED FOR THIS ITEM