By By Dan Hounsell

From workplace violence to hospital-acquired infections such as MRSA, healthcare facilities have long presented potential threats to employees who work there. The COVID-19 pandemic has added a high-profile threat to that list, and the federal government is taking notice.

The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) is targeting assisted living facilities, continuing care retirement communities and skilled nursing facilities with a new program designed to focus inspections, outreach and compliance assistance efforts on companies that put the largest number of workers at serious risk of contracting the coronavirus, according to McKnight’s Senior Living.

The national emphasis program will last up to 12 months. It also will focus on employers that retaliate against workers for making complaints about unsafe or unhealthy conditions, or for exercising other rights protected by federal law. OSHA’s program also targets residential intellectual and developmental disability facilities, home healthcare services, temporary help services, physicians’ and dentists’ offices, ambulance services, general medical and surgical hospitals, psychiatric and substance abuse hospitals, and specialty hospitals.