OSHA Issues Citations to Florida and Wisconsin Hospitals for Health and Safety Failures
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued citations to two hospitals over health and safety failures, resulting in almost $24,000 in fines.
Florida Behavioral Health Facility Fined for Failing to Protect Workers from Workplace Violence
OSHA conducted an investigation of UHS of Delaware Inc.- Wekiva Springs Center LLC, which does business as Wekiva Springs Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, in response to an alarming number of incidents involving workplace violence.
Wekiva Springs provides treatment for individuals suffering from behavioral health and substance abuse issues. OSHA visited the facility in November 2022 following reports of multiple instances where employees had been bitten, punched, kicked, scratched, and sexually assaulted. Several employees had suffered broken bones, concussions, and wounds, and had to endure regular, and often intense, incidents of workplace violence.
According to OSHA, in 2022 there were 182 reports of alleged incidents of workplace violence at the hospital, and over a 6-month period, 70% of the incidents of workplace violence required a police response. The incidents included a nurse being kicked in the stomach by a patient, a patient throwing a chair at staff members, and a mental health associate suffering a concussion after having their head repeatedly smashed against an air conditioning unit by a patient who refused to be escorted to their room.
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OSHA determined that staff members had been allowed to be exposed to physical threats and assaults during routine daily interactions and while providing care, resulting in a citation for a serious violation for failing to provide a workplace free from recognized health and safety hazards that were likely to result in serious physical harm or death. OSHA imposed $15,625 in penalties and made several recommendations on how to improve safety and protect staff members from workplace violence, including the development of a workplace violence program, ensuring doctors were available overnight to prescribe medications to violent patients, and issuing employees with panic alarms.
OSHA said UHS of Delaware has an extensive history of OSHA investigations and violations related to workplace violence as a result of employees not being provided with adequate protection. Earlier this year, a federal administrative law judge affirmed that UHS of Delaware exposed employees to workplace violence in 2019 by providing inadequate protections, and UHS of Delaware was sanctioned for destroying surveillance videos showing workplace violence.
OSHA Fines Miramont Behavioral Health for Documentation Failures
Miramont Behavioral Health, a Middleton, WI-based provider of inpatient and outpatient behavioral health care, has been fined $8,370 by the OSHA following an investigation of an incident where a nurse was accidentally spiked with a needle stick to establish whether the healthcare provider was compliant with safety and health regulations.
The incident occurred in December 2022 and did not result in any loss of work time or patient safety impacts; however, OSHA’s inspection identified safety and health failures resulting in four citations, three of which were serious and related to safety and health risks. The citations included a failure to maintain a proper work injury log, a failure to properly record the needle stick incident in its injury log, and a failure to include certain jobs in its exposure control plan.
All of the citations were fully abated within 24 hours and were mostly related to documentation issues. A spokesperson for Miramont Behavioral Health confirmed that its documentation policy has now been updated and further training has been provided to employees to ensure full compliance in the future. The citations were resolved through an informal settlement with OSHA in June 2023.
