By HFT Editorial Staff

An inspection by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), prompted by employee complaints, determined that Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx lacked adequate safeguards for employees in the pediatric emergency department of the Children's Hospital at Montefiore.

OSHA found that employees, including security officers,nurses, assistants, and technicians were exposed to workplace violence. In some cases, physical assaults from violent patients occurred during one-on-one patient observations, while restraining patients during assaults and attempted escapes, and while performing holds on or restraining patients. The violent incidents resulted in worker injuries, including broken bones, bites, and neck, back and shoulder injuries. The injuries caused some employees to incur lost work time.

Registered nurses, certified nursing assistants, patient care technicians and security officers provide essential services in healthcare settings. Their work also exposes them to various on-the-job hazards, including assault and other forms of workplace violence. When such hazards exist, employers must develop and maintain an effective workplace violence prevention program.

The agency determined Montefiore's workplace violence prevention program was inadequate and lacked effective engineering and administrative controls and employee training to protect workers against the recurring hazard of workplace violence.

OSHA cited Montefiore for one serious violation under the general duty clause, with a proposed penalty of $13,653, for not providing a workplace free from recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees. The agency also cited the facility for two other-than-serious violations, with $3,902 in proposed penalties, for incomplete, inaccurate and untimely injury and illness incident reports.

Montefiore Medical Center is an academic medical center and the primary teaching hospital of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. The Montefiore Health System consists of 15 hospitals and a primary and specialty care network of more than 180 locations across Westchester County, the lower Hudson Valley, and the Bronx.