July 2019 AST Magazine AST July 2019 Magazine | Page 77

"EMPLOYERS
ARE REQUIRED TO
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PROVIDE THEIR EMPLOYEES WITH
A PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT THAT
IS “FREE FROM RECOGNIZABLE
THREATS THAT ARE CAUSING OR LIK-
LEY TO CAUSE DEATH OR SERIOUS
HARM.”
gress in 2018 and July
was 2019
re-introduced
- Edition 35
again earlier this year in February
2019.
A 2016 report influenced the bill,
which found that over 730,000 cases
of workplace assaults between 2009
and 2013 were against health care
Many employers may not be aware and social service workers.
that an active shooter incident is Another report published by the Har-
considered a “recognized hazard.” vard Medical School and the Depart-
ment of Emergency Medicine at the
Despite this requirement, OSHA Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center,
does not have a national Work- found that nearly 75 percent of all re-
place Violence Prevention ported incidents of Workplace Vio-
Standard Plan.
Currently, lawmak-
ers are pushing le-
gal efforts to enact a
federal bill, known
as: The Workplace
Violence Preven-
tion for Health
Care and Social
Service Workers
Act, H.R.1309.
The bill was first
introduced to Con-
Without a comprehensive Workplace Violence Prevention Plan that is up-
dated regularly, your organization is taking a gamble on both the safety of
your employees and the continuity of your business operations.
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