Brookdale University Hospital to Implement Comprehensive Safety Program
The program will safeguard its employees better against assaults, after a patient assaulted a nurse at the Brooklyn facility in 2014, OSHA announced.
OSHA announced that Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center has agreed to implement and maintain a comprehensive program to safeguard its employees better against assaults and other on-the-job violence, after a patient assaulted a nurse at the Brooklyn, N.Y., facility in 2014.
On June 18, OSHA and the facility reached an agreement that includes specific engineering and administrative controls, such as: employee training; more holistic violence prevention efforts; improved communication with employees; guidance for actions before, during, and after workplace violence incidents; and engagement of an outside consultant with expertise in workplace violence in hospital settings.
"Health care and social service workers face job-related violence risks, but effective, proactive employer policies can curtail these dangers. This agreement and its comprehensive corrective measures are great examples of what health care facilities should do to protect their employees better," said Robert Kulick, OSHA's regional administrator in New York.