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By Elizabeth Hogue
Homecare field staff members who provide services on behalf of private duty agencies, hospices, Medicare-certified home health agencies and home
medical equipment (HME) companies are extremely vulnerable. Contributing to their vulnerability is the fact that they work alone on territory that may be unfamiliar and over which they have little control. Staff members certainly need as much protection as
possible.
Agencies may be liable when field staff members are injured as a result of violence. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) may,
for example, take action against homecare providers when patients are injured as a result of violence. Likewise, agencies may be liable for negligence. Recent enforcement action taken by OSHA against a private duty agency illustrates the likelihood of liability
for such violations by homecare providers of all types.
On July 5, 2016, OSHA issued a $98,000 fine for an alleged willful violation of applicable requirements related to exposure to workplace violence,
including physical and sexual assault. The citation was based on an investigation that began on February 1, 2016, after a staff member was assaulted by a homecare client. In this case, a staff member who previously took care of the client had warned the Agency
about sexual assaults by the client. OSHA concluded that the Agency failed to protect its staff members from life-threatening hazards of workplace violence. According to OSHA, the Agency also failed to provide an effective workplace violence prevention program.
Specifically, OSHA took issue with two types of conduct by the Agency:
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Staff members were exposed to physical assault.
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There was no system in place for staff members to use to report threats and instances of violence to the Agency.
If OSHA's citation is upheld, OSHA will require the Agency to abate these findings by:
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Developing and implementing a written, comprehensive program to prevent violence in the workplace
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Implementing a hazard assessment of violence in the workplace
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Developing and implementing measures to control violence in the workplace, such as an option to refuse to provide services to clients in hazardous situations
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Developing and implementing a training program on violence in the workplace
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Developing procedures to follow in instances of violence, including making reports and conducting investigations of such instances
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Putting in place a system that allows staff members to report all instances of violence, regardless of severity
Homecare staff members provide increasingly important services under circumstances that can be difficult, to say the least. Perhaps the highest
obligation of all homecare providers is to protect their staff members. Proposed action by OSHA described above provides a "road map" for providers to follow as they continue to work to address the issue of violence against homecare staff members.
©2016 Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq. All rights reserved.
No portion of this material may be reproduced in any form without the advance written permission of the author.
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