UHS-Delaware and UHS-Fuller Had Insufficient Workplace Violence Protections
UHS of Delaware Inc. and UHS of Fuller Inc. have been found to have exposed their employees to unacceptable risks from workplace violence at Fuller Hospital in Attleboro, Massachusetts, and subsequently destroyed evidence and failed to comply with their legal discovery obligations.
UHS of Delaware and UHS of Fuller Inc. are subsidiaries of Universal Health Services, which is one of the largest providers of behavioral healthcare services in the United States. Fuller Hospital was inspected by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in 2019 in response to complaints from UHS-Delaware and UHS-Fuller employees about insufficient safeguards against workplace violence. There were more than 500 incidents of aggression on hospital employees at Fuller Hospital over a 7-month period in 2019 in which employees were bitten, slapped, punched, kicked, and had their hair ripped out. Several employees suffered repeated concussions in those incidents.
In December 2019, OSHA cited UHS of Delaware Inc. and UHS of Fuller Inc. for exposing employees to workplace violence. The companies contested the citation and the case was tried over a two-week period in July and August 2022 by the Boston Regional Solicitor’s Office. At the trial, employees testified about the injuries they sustained and the unsafe working conditions at the hospital. The employees claimed that they had not been provided with sufficient training and there were inadequate staffing levels. The companies appealed the trial decision to the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
In January 2023, Review Commission Administrative Law Judge Carol A. Baumerich affirmed the serious citation, found both companies operated the hospital as a single employer, and determined that the proposed abatement measures were feasible and would significantly reduce the risks to employees from violence in the workplace. The proposed measures include increasing staffing for handling behavioral health emergencies, ensuring new employees receive adequate training, having trained security professionals on all three shifts, providing personal panic alarms to employees, and conducting post-incident debriefings and investigations.
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Both companies were also sanctioned for failing to comply with discovery obligations and destroying surveillance video footage of incidents of violence against employees. The companies were ordered to pay OHSA $20,175 in attorneys’ fees. In a separate case, UHS-Fuller and UHS-Delaware were ordered to pay OSHA $30,515 in attorneys’ fees due to the failure to comply with an OSHA-issued subpoena for the surveillance videos.
“When employers do not adequately protect their workers from workplace violence, the U.S. Department of Labor will use all legal tools at our disposal to make them do so,” said Regional Solicitor of Labor Maia Fisher in Boston. “When companies attempt to avoid liability by destroying evidence or keeping it from the department – as they did in this case – we will hold them accountable.”
“Each year, about two million American workers fall victim to workplace violence, which continues to be a growing concern for employers and employees nationwide,” said OSHA Regional Administrator Galen Blanton in Boston. “OSHA requires employers to provide a safe and healthful workplace for all workers covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Employers who do not take all feasible steps to prevent or abate a recognized violence hazard in their workplace can be cited and fined.”
