Seyfarth Synopsis: OSHA Publishes RFI on Proposed Rule Concerning Workplace Violence in Healthcare and Social Assistance Industries.

Federal OSHA currently enforces workplace violence under the General Duty Clause, under which OSHA requires employers to take affirmative steps to protect their employees.  In a not-so-surprising action, OSHA is considering whether to commence rulemaking proceedings on a new standard for preventing workplace violence in healthcare and social assistance workplaces perpetrated by patients and clients. Prevention of Workplace Violence in Healthcare and Social Assistance, 81 Fed. Reg. 88147 (December 7, 2016).

Workplace violence affects numerous healthcare and social assistance workplaces, including psychiatric facilities, hospital emergency departments, community mental health clinics, treatment clinics for substance abuse disorders, pharmacies, community-care facilities, residential facilities and long-term care facilities. Professions affected by the proposed rulemaking include physicians, registered nurses, pharmacists, nurse practitioners, physicians’ assistants, nurses’ aides, therapists, technicians, public health nurses, home healthcare workers, social and welfare workers, security personnel, maintenance personnel, and emergency medical care personnel.

According to OSHA, workers in the Health Care and Social Assistance sector (NAICS 62) face a substantially increased risk of injury due to workplace violence. In 2014 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII), workers in this sector experienced workplace-violence-related injuries at an estimated incidence rate of 8.2 per 10,000 full time workers, over 4 times higher than the rate of 1.7 per 10,000 workers in the private sector overall. Individual portions of the healthcare sector have much higher rates. Psychiatric hospitals have incidence rates over 64 times higher than private industry as a whole, and nursing and residential care facilities have rates 11 times higher than those for private industry as a whole. In 2014, 79 percent of serious violent incidents reported by employers in healthcare and social assistance settings were caused by interactions with patients.

As we noted above, this action is consistent with OSHA’s past initiatives in this sector. For instance, in August 2016 we blogged about how “NIOSH Offers Free Training Program to Help Employers Address Safety Risks Faced by Home Healthcare Workers,” in December 2015 we noted that “OSHA Issues “Strategies and Tools” to “Help Prevent” Workplace Violence in the Healthcare Setting,” in July 2015 we blogged that “Healthcare Employers to Get Even More Attention from OSHA,” and in April 2015 we blogged that “OSHA Updates Workplace Violence Guidance for Protecting Healthcare and Social Service Workers.” Also, this action follows on “CA Nears Adoption of New Workplace Violence Regulations for Health Care Employers, Home Health Providers, and Emergency Responders.”

Comments on the RFI for OSHA Docket No. OSHA–2016–0014 are due on April 6, 2017.