Extensive Resource Materials Available
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) launched a new educational online resource on January 15, 2014, which has extensive materials to help hospitals prevent worker injuries, assess workplace safety needs, enhance safe patient handling programs and implement safety and health management systems. The materials include fact books, self-assessments and best practice guides.
Caring for Our Caregivers
The website’s materials on safe patient handling are designed to address the most common types of injuries hospital workers face, and hospitals can use these resources to protect their workers, improve patient safety and reduce costs.
Hospital workers face serious hazards, including: lifting and moving patients, workplace violence, slips and falls, exposure to chemicals and hazardous drugs, exposures to infectious diseases and needlesticks. In 2012, U.S. hospitals recorded 250,000 work-related injuries and illnesses, almost 60,000 of which caused employees to miss work. Nationwide, workers’ compensation losses result in a total annual expense of $2 billion for hospitals.
If you have any questions, please contact Steve Lyman at slyman@wp.hallrender.com or your regular Hall Render attorney.
