Did you know that health care and social service workers are almost four times as likely to be injured as a result of violence as the average private sector worker? In 2013, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported more than 23,000 significant injuries due to assault at work. More than 70 percent of these assaults were in healthcare and social service settings.
OSHA just recently released an update to its Guidelines for Preventing Workplace Violence for Healthcare and Social Service workers. The revised guidelines stress the importance of developing a written workplace violence prevention program that includes policies and procedures to eliminate or reduce workplace violence in a range of healthcare and social service settings.
According to OSHA's guidelines, training all workers can:
"Help raise the overall safety and health knowledge across the workforce, provide employees with the tools needed to identify workplace safety and security hazards, and address potential problems before they arise and ultimately reduce the likelihood of workers being assaulted."
All workers should understand the "universal precautions for violence" meaning, "violence should be expected but can be avoided or mitigated through preparation."
How we help?
As part of our course library, we offer Workplace Violence course and a Harassment and Discrimination in the Workplace course. The Workplace Violence course includes: an introduction to workplace violence, workplace violence policies and procedures, identifying characteristics of violent persons, and dealing with violent persons including de-escalating potentially violent situations all of which meet OSHA's recommendations for developing a written workplace violence prevention program. Our Harassment and Discrimination in the Workplace course includes the following sections and provides training on: types of harassment and unlawful discrimination, facts about sexual harassment, reporting harassment, management responsibilities, and workplace bullying. Since April is National Workplace Violence month, it is a good time for all employees to complete both the Workplace Violence course and the Harassment and Discrimination in the Workplace course.
If you would like more information about our Workplace Violence course and/or our Harassment and Discrimination in the Workplace course, or if you have any questions about OSHA's updated guidelines, please feel free to comment below or send us an email at [email protected] or reach us by phone toll-free at 855-427-0427.