UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

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

OSH ACT of 1970 Section (5)(a)(1): 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: The employer is failing to protect employees from workplace violence-related hazards. On and before November 1, 2015, employees were providing services to include, but not limited to assisting clients make meals, do household chores and transport/accompany clients to shop or work and are exposed to punches, kicks, bites, and thrown objects from clients. A pregnant employee was hospitalized when she was kicked in the stomach during the utilization of a therapeutic aggression control technique when a client displayed violent behaviors. Upon review of the company's OSHA 300 Logs it was identified that the company has had multiple instances of injuries reported as the result of workplace violence related incidents. Among other methods, feasible abatement methods include, but are not limited to: Create procedures to be able to promptly respond to clients who have high incidents of physical outburst or have been very violent. Ensure appropriate staff members are on site or available within a reasonable response time. Location specific assessments, which include, but are not limited to, proximity to emergency response services, proximity of responding staff members, and current client assessments should be utilized to establish the reasonable response time. Provide effective means of communication through the implementation of two-way radios and/or remote mechanism to summon emergency assistance. Create a policy that violence is not tolerated and ensure that policy is conveyed to clients and family members. Provide effective engineering controls including, but not limited to, mirrors in hallways and blind corners. Evaluate reports (such as Therapy logs, OSHA 300 logs, and first reports of injury) to identify the locations, employees, activities, and times of day that most often involve incidents of workplace violence. Review the current training methods and determine if it is most appropriate for protecting workers from the incidents occurring. Ensure appropriate training is provided to all new workers prior to beginning work on proper communication procedures and engineering controls. Training should also occur when significant changes are made to policies and procedures and annual refresher training should be provided to all staff. Continuously evaluate injury reporting tools (i.e. OSHA 300 logs and first reports of injury) to discover WPV-related injury trends.