OSHA, behavioral health facility settle over violence
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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced Tuesday that it has reached a settlement with a Fort Myers, Florida, behavioral health care and residential treatment facility to prevent future employee injuries after a series of violent incidents in the spring and fall of 2020.
SalusCare Inc. has accepted an OSHA finding that it exposed behavior health technicians to attacks on five occasions in 2020 when workers were spit on, kicked in the ribs and suffered sprains, cuts, fractures and a concussion, according to a statement.
OSHA issued the center a serious citation for failing to adequately protect workers from patient-on-staff violence and an other-than-serious citation for failing to report a worker hospitalization within 24 hours. SalusCare agreed to pay $6,747 for these citations, according to OSHA.
As part of the settlement, the company will hire a qualified consultant to improve its workplace violence prevention program, develop a way to alert workers to violent patients and triggers that may lead to violence, revise its safety protocols, increase staffing, provide worker training and improve communication about safety, according to OSHA.
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