OSHA Inspection: THE RESOURCE EXCHANGE

Issued

Nov 2, 1993

Abate by

Dec 5, 1993

Penalty

Initial $1,575 · Current $750 Reduced

General-duty citation text

Section 5(a)(1): of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970:
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the employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment
which were free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely
to cause death or serious physical harm to employees in that
employees were exposed to:
a) Employees who drive vans and buses transporting clients to
and from residences and their work/vocational training are
exposed to the hazard of being assualted by passengers.
Adequate assessment of the client's propensity towards
reacting in a violent or assaultive manner is not made prior
to assignment for transportating them. Action is not taken to
limit the hazard prior to occurrence of incidents.
AMONG OTHER METHODS, ONE FEASIBLE AND ACCEPTABLE ABATEMENT METHOD
TO CORRECT THIS HAZARD IS:
The Interdisciplinary Team should look at the records of each
client to determine what their needs are before assigning the
client to a particular transportation route. Decisions should be
made about each client as to the form of transportation to be
provided and the amount of supervision necessary to ensure the
client's safety and the safety of others. This evaluation should
include, but is not limited to, past endencies to react in a
violent or assaultive manner under certain conditions. Information
regarding the behavior patterns of clients should be provided to
the transportation department and to the vehicle drivers to the
same extent that it is provided to other employees such as the day
staff and residential staff.
Passengers with a known potential for violence or assaults against
others should be limited to buses with aides and should not be
assigned to vans where there is little room to move away from an
assault.
Ensure adequate supervision of clients based on their known
potential for out-of-control behavior.
Provide more information to drivers and aides regarding the history
of assaultive behavior of clients so that they can watch those
passengers more carefully and possibly avert the problem by early
intervention.
Provide additional training (including practice) for employees to
physically protect themselves.
Screen the driver from the passengers in order to protect the
driver from assaults while the vehicle is being driven.
When a violent incident occurs in which an employee is injured,
follow-up the incident report with a debriefing of the employee by
a qualified trainer in non-violent crisis intervention, to see if
the incident could have been handled differently to avoid injury.
In addition to procedures already in place, the drivers should be
instructed to immediately pull off the road and stop when a
client's behavior becomes violent towards others. This should be
a standard operating procedure and should take place even before
making radio contact with the base.
If you cannot reliably predict which clients have the known
potential for assaultive behavior, provide aides on all vehicles
to ensure the safe operation of the vehicle and the safety of the
driver.

Issued

Nov 2, 1993

Abate by

Nov 5, 1993

Penalty

Initial $1,125 · Current $250 Reduced