Health Medical Homework Help

Visit the OSHA website and locate Guidelines for Preventing Workplace Violence for Health Care and Social Service Workers (www.osha.gov/Publications/osha3148.pdf (Links to an external site.)).  Comment on why these guidelines came into existence, scope of the problem, risk factors and assistance programs available.

Response #1 (250 words and 1 reference)

These Guidelines by OSHA came into existence to help reduce workplace violence in workplace violence in the healthcare setting. OSHA has identified four different settings with guidelines, and they include hospital, residential treatment, non-residential treatment/service, community care, and fieldwork. Those who work in a healthcare or social service setting are at a higher risk of facing violence in the workplace. This violence has primarily come from patients and long-term care residents because of pain, unfamiliar surroundings, and disease progression (OSHA, 2016). Unfortunately, the workplace setting does measure the types of hazards that are going to exist in the environment therefore when healthcare workers are working with individuals who have a history of violence, drug abuse, and gang members the risk for violence increases. However, risk factors can also come from the organization/institution one is employed. For example, a risk factor listed is the perception that violence is tolerated, and the victims cannot report the incident (OSHA, 2016). I think this risk factor is extremely important because many healthcare workers may feel that they are not able to report the incident. A worker who experiences violence is also at risk for experiencing very intense emotions like anxiety, depression, and flashbacks to the event (Zerwekh & Zerwekh Garneau, 2021). I also feel that there is a stigma surrounding healthcare workers that when they experience workplace violence it is “part of the job” as they chose to be in that profession. Yet, any type of workplace violence is completely unacceptable and should not happen to any worker. With that, there are a plethora of assistance programs available for the employees regarding OSHA. An assistance program I personally liked was the Compliance Assistance Specialists. These specialists are available nationwide and can give information to workers regarding OSHA standards, rights, responsibilities, and educational programs on specific standards (OSHA, 2016). I think this is very beneficial to the workers as they can call an assistance specialist when they are unsure about any hazards they may encounter.

Response #2 (250 words and 1 reference)

OSHA was created in the late 1960s to the early 1970s. According to the Department of Labor, “Disabling injuries increased 20 percent during the decade, and 14,000 workers were dying on the job each year”. OSHA is used and was created to prevent workplace violence and injury. OSHA is something practiced in every business and job. When I worked at Aldi I had to maintain OSHA compliance by completing many online scenarios and show my managers I could effectively use heavy equipment. According to the OSHA website, “For healthcare workers, assaults comprise 10-11% of workplace injuries involving days away from work, as compared to 3% of injuries of all private sector employees”(OSHA, 2016,pg.2). I was shocked to see that healthcare services receive more injuries and assaults compared to any other occupation. This number may even increase due to the number of assaults that are not reported in healthcare.

Risk factors that OSHA looks at is identifying and assessing workplace violence hazards. Due to the increase in assaults and injuries that come from the healthcare and social services profession, OSHA takes a look at behaviors and areas like psychiatry and long-term care facilities which may cause more injuries and how to reduce it. Additional risk factors include looking at individuals, are you working alone in a facility, are working with people who are withdrawing from drugs, or have a history of violence. OSHA also considers organizational factors, like does your hospital have policies, are they up to the standards they need to be, and do the workers follow them correctly.

OSHA does have violence prevention programs, which includes going to a company within question to work on appropriate procedures. They expand changes within the facility including managers, clients and procedures. After a violence prevention program new changes should be reassessed to make sure they are up to date and work well for the facility.