OSHA Inspection: NORTH SUFFOLK MENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION

Issued

2011-07-19 00:00:00

Abate by

2013-10-18 00:00:00

Penalty

Initial $7000.00 · Current $7000.00

General-duty citation text

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970:  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 the hazard of physical assault such as being stabbed,
punched, hit and/or bitten
by mental health clients.
a) Location - 110 Ocean Avenue, Revere, MA:
On or about January 20, 2011, a senior counselor working at the group home
was
brutally attacked and fatally injured during performance of regularly
assigned duties.
Employees are exposed to the hazard of physical assault such as being
stabbed, punched,
hit or bitten while providing services to clients confronting emotional
difficulties, mental
illness, developmental disabilities and additions.  The employer failed to
develop and
implement adequate measures to protect employees from physical assault in
the
workplace.
Feasible means of abatement, among others include:
1.Provide employees with personal duress/panic buttons with no-response
alarms
connected to a continually monitored and automatic response system as
described
in Lone Worker Safety Systems.
2.Install panic buttons in employees' offices (which are located in all
group homes).
3.Install recording security camera systems throughout facilities to
monitor
behavior.
4. Create a stand alone written Workplace Violence Prevention Program for
all the
service programs which include the following elements:
*  A Workplace Violence Policy Statement including responsibilities of all
staff
and a policy of zero tolerance for Workplace Violence;
*  Hazard/Threat/Security Assessment including records review, inspection
of the
worksite, and employee survey;
*  Implementation of Workplace Controls and Prevention Strategies;
*  Training and Education of all Staff with a focus on the specifics of
the NSMH
Association program;
*  Incident Reporting and Investigation;
*  Periodic review of the program.
5.Conduct more extensive training so that all employees are aware of what
the
company workplace violence policy is, and where that information can be
found.
In addition, train all employees to state clearly to clients and employees
that
violence is not permitted or tolerated.  Train all employees how to
respond during
a workplace violence incident. Further train employees on: recognizing
when a
client or others are exhibiting aggressor behavior and techniques for
timely de-
escalating the behavior; risk factors that cause or contribute to
assaults.
6.Determine the behavioral history of new/transferred clients.
7.Conduct Criminal Offense records checks (Massachusetts CORI) and Sexual
Offender records checks (MA SORB).
8.Implement & maintain a buddy system for at least second and third shifts
as
appropriate based upon a complete hazard assessment.
9.Establish a system - such as chart tags, log books, or verbal census
reports - to
identify clients with assaultive behavior problems and train all staff to
understand
the flagging system.
10.Put procedures in place that would communicate any incident of workplace
violence to staff that might have contact with that client so that
employees who
might not have access to client charts would be aware of previous acts of
violence
or aggression.
11.Provide employee's with smart-phone GPS location capability to monitor
employee safety.
12.Obtain hand held scanners to scan all guests and their property.
13.Issue private channel radios (walkie talkies) for increased
communication and
support between staff.n