Workplace violence is not “part of the job”
by Mary Consoli
Nurses and hospital staff were pleased to learn that the U.S Government Accountability Office (GAO) has studied the impact of workplace violence on healthcare workers. The preponderance of data is substantiated; and while workplace violence in healthcare settings is recognized, it is still not regulated.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines currently in place are strongly recommended and generally followed, but they are voluntary and therefore not enforceable. It’s a bit disappointing that the GAO study fell short of calling for an OSHA workplace violence standard, but the report is an important step in the right direction.
Workplace violence and related injuries should not be expected nor accepted as part of the job. Unfortunately, healthcare and social workers across the nation have considered workplace violence to be “part of the job” and do not report many of the assaults and injuries that occur in workplace settings. Our national union, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), has taken a leadership role, collaborating with other unions and organizations representing stakeholders to change this perception.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health defines workplace violence as any physical assault, threatening behavior or verbal abuse in the workplace. Violence includes overt and covert behaviors ranging in aggressiveness from verbal harassment and threatening gestures to kicking, hitting, biting, punching, stabbing, sexual assault, shooting and murder.
There is no consistent tracking protocol across states and agencies for the incidence of violence in healthcare settings, and as a result measuring the extent is difficult. Data reported at the state and federal level do show the rates of work-related assaults and injuries are trending upward.
Our local union, with the assistance of the AFT, six years ago conducted a workplace violence survey of our membership of over 600 registered nurses. We had a 68 percent response rate. More than half of the nurses (69 percent) said they did not feel safe at work at our community hospital in Danbury. Over 35 percent had been physically assaulted, 27 percent had personally been threatened and 28 percent had an object thrown at them. Our data are similar to what are reported in nursing journals, publications of the Emergency Nurses Association, the American Nurses Association and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The reality is that caregivers face workplace violence regularly, but it is not always reported.
Here in Connecticut, “An Act Concerning Workplace Violence Prevention and Response in Health Care Settings” has been in effect since 2011. Our local and affiliated unions took an active role in advocating passage of the law. Increased incidents of workplace violence and a shooting in March 2010 at our own hospital played a significant role in getting the bill passed. The law requires healthcare employers both to implement prevention and response plans and to establish criminal penalties for assaults on healthcare employees, making them a class C felony. I am optimistic that the GAO’s study will lead to real results. In my state, the Connecticut Council on Occupational Safety and Health is leading efforts to push for an OSHA standard for workplace violence. Thanks to the council’s advocacy, ours is the first state where the entire congressional delegation has jointly signed a letter to OSHA in support of such a standard. The GAO study provides a solid foundation for achieving the OSHA standard for workplace violence prevention that all caregivers and our patients deserve.
Mary Consoli has been a registered nurse since 1969 and is president of the Danbury Nurses’ Union Unit 47, AFT Local 5047.
https://medium.com/aft-healthwire/workplace-violence-is-not-part-of-the-job-d3f786c0e56a#.1cbhp1g16