Officials at SSM Health in St. Louis, Mo., have worked to better integrate security guards into their care teams as a measure to prevent violence against healthcare professionals, according to an article on the Occupational Health & Safety (OSHA) website.
According to OSHA, hospital employees are more prone to injuries that lead to missing work than employees in construction and manufacturing.
While 48 percent of those injuries are caused by overexertion, 9 percent are caused by violence.
SSM Health's initiative encourages security guards to integrate more fully into the care team to actively work with patients and clinical staff.
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