A VA medical center located in Prescott, AZ, was unable to keep its employees safe from critical and possibly fatal patient violence. This is the second time in four years that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has reported the VA medical center for allowing its employees to be exposed to violence.
OSHA started an investigation of Bob Stump VA Medical Center in December 2023. This followed reports that nurses, nursing aids, and housekeeping personnel were bitten, struck, kicked, slapped, punched, and sexually harassed by unit residents. OSHA’s investigation found that the center failed to protect its employees from resident violence, repeating issues found in a prior 2019 investigation.
Executive Order 12196 mandates that government agencies follow the same safety and health requirements as private company employers. They need to ensure safe working conditions and deal with possible risks. Unlike private employers who come across financial penalties, government agencies receive notifications of unsafe and unhealthy working conditions. In such instances, they need to show they have resolved the discovered hazards. If Bob Stump VA Medical Center were a private company, it could face penalties of around $161,323 for these safety and health problems.
Violence in the workplace, especially in healthcare, is increasing. As per the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, healthcare employees were involved in 73 non-fatal injuries caused by violence that happened in 2018. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that the frequency of medical center employees experiencing non-deadly violent assaults is 8.3 per 10,000 employees. The situation is getting worse, as 40% of nurses who participated in a National Nurses United survey said that violent incidents are increasing. Healthcare companies should employ measures to safeguard their employees.
OSHA Area Director Zachary Barnett in Phoenix, Arizona said that healthcare employees face workplace violence around four times more frequently compared to those working in the private sector. The inability of the Bob Stump VA Medical Center to handle the same problems as discovered in 2019 is bothersome. The facility’s operations should act immediately to safeguard its staff from workplace violence before somebody becomes really injured or killed during an accident that should have been prevented.
