OSHA Inspection: BROOKDALE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL & MEDICAL CENTER

Issued

2014-08-07 00:00:00

Abate by

2014-09-06 00:00:00

Penalty

Initial $70000.00 · Current $7000.00 Reduced

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 was 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 workplace violence.     On or about February 7, 2014 through April 12, 2014, Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center employees were exposed to violent assaults and physical threats by patients and visitors ? including hitting, kicking, and punching, which resulted in head, eye, face, hand, groin and other bodily injuries ? while performing routine duties throughout the hospital facility.  One instance, on or about February 7, 2014, involved an evening nurse in the 5th floor, CHC Department, who was attacked while attending to a patient and was repeatedly kicked in the head, resulting in severe brain damage.      Among other methods, feasible and acceptable means to abate the workplace violence at Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center include:      1)      Engineering Controls:    - Install and regularly maintain alarm systems and other security devices, panic buttons, hand held alarms or noise devices at workstations or worn.  - Use a closed-circuit video recording for high-risk areas on a 24-hour basis.    - Enclose nurse's stations and/or have a security doors to prohibit access to area, install deep service counters or shatterproof glass in reception triage and admitting areas or client rooms.  - Provide metal detectors; hand held or installed.  - Secure furniture and other items that could be used as weapons.      2)      Administrative Controls:     - Develop and implement an effective and comprehensive violence prevention program that includes management commitment/employee involvement, worksite analysis, hazard prevention and control, safety and health training, recordkeeping and program evaluation.  - Implement, maintain or improve a system and procedures to perform a root cause or similar type of analysis for every incident of work place violence. The hospital should also review and evaluate the data collected to identify patterns and trends. The analysis should be used to identify and implement the types of hazard prevention and control measures needed to reduce the likelihood or eliminate the possibility of an incident of workplace violence from occurring.  - Establish a system such as chart tags, log books or verbal census reports to identify patients, clients and visitors with a history of violence.  - Ensure that all new and transferred patients are promptly screened for potential violence and past violent or assaultive behavior, and that such screening is considered when assigning patients to particular areas of the hospital.  - Evaluate workplace controls and implement new policies and procedures when appropriate to reduce violence in the workplace.  - Use properly trained security officers to deal with aggressive behavior. Follow written security procedures.  - Develop building access control procedures to include a sign in procedure with passes for visitors.  Enforce visitor hours and procedures.  - Establish a list of restricted visitors for patients with a history of violence or gang activity.  Make copies available at security checkpoints, nurse's stations and visitor sign-in area.  - Use the "buddy system" especially when personal safety may be threatened.  - Put procedures in place that would allow communication of any incident of workplace violence to the staff that might come in contact with that patient so the employees who might not have access to a patients chart would be aware of a previous act of aggression or violence.  - Ensure that security staff members, and/or a response team other than employees on the floor are readily and immediately available to render assistance in the event of an incident of workplace violence and that all are provided with specialized training to deal with aggressive behavior.  - Ensure that the psychiatric floors/areas have sufficient security staffing.    - The employer shall create a safety committee to assist in the development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the Workplace Violence Prevention Program.  The committee should be made up of representatives from management, security, and labor, as well as representatives from all departments and shifts. The committee should be involved in all aspects of worksite analysis, hazard prevention and control, training, recordkeeping and program evaluation.      3)      Employee Training:     - Conduct training for all employees so they are aware of what the hospital's Violence Prevention Plan in the Workplace plan is and what procedures to follow to address the hazard.  Conduct comprehensive mandatory training specific to the prevention of workplace violence, early recognition of aggressive or violent behavior and techniques for conflict resolution.  - Conduct training for all employees so they are aware of the mandatory requirement to report all incidents of workplace violence which include: verbal threats, nonverbal threats, threats of bodily harm or intimidation, physical assault and/or menacing.  - Develop Post-Incident Procedures and Services to provide comprehensive treatment for employees who may be traumatized by witnessing or being involved in a workplace violence incident.

Issued

2014-08-07 00:00:00

Abate by

2014-08-21 00:00:00

Penalty

Initial $1000.00 · Current $1000.00

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1904.4(a):  Each employer required by this Part to keep records of fatalities, injuries, and illnesses did not record each fatality, injury and illness that was work-related, a new case, and meets one or more of the general recording criteria:   Location: Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center, One Brookdale Plaza, Brooklyn, NY:    On or about April 21, 2014, the employer did not record the following workplace injuries and illnesses on the OSHA 300 Log for calendar year 2014.     a)    On or about 2/07/2014 Employee Incident Report Dated 2/07/14, an employee assaulted by a patient which resulted in severe head trauma and life threating injuries.    b)    On or about 2/26/2014 Employee Incident Report #32644, An employee standing on a chair slipped and fell, injury not listed.  Case resulted in 1 day away from work.  c)    On or about 3/11/2014 Employee Incident Report #35847, an employee assaulted by a patient causing a chin contusion.  Case resulted in 2 days away from work.  d)    On or about 3/20/2014 Employee Incident Report #28680, an employee tripped over patient wheelchair injuring left knee.  Case resulted in 3 days away from work.   e)    On or about 3/25/2014 Employee Incident Report #29018, an employee struck by falling box surgical supplies, hitting face and right eye.  Case resulted in 3 days away.  f)    On or about 3/25/2014 Employee Incident Report #36904, an employee tripped by a patient injured left knee, arms & hands.  Case resulted in 2 days away from work.  g)    On or about 4/01/2014 Employee Incident Report #25121, an employee injured when food cart fell and struck both feet.  Case resulted in 3 days away from work.  h)    On or about 4/8/2014 Employee Incident Report #4814, An employee injured when punched in left back by patient.  Case resulted in 2 days away from work.

Issued

2014-08-07 00:00:00

Abate by

2014-08-21 00:00:00

Penalty

Initial $0.00 · Current $0.00

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1904.7(b)(3): The employer did not record the injury or illness involved in one or more days away from work on the OSHA 300 Log with the number of calendar days away from work in the number of days column:   Location: Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center, One Brookdale Plaza, Brooklyn, NY:   On or about April 21, 2014, the employer did not record correctly the following number of days away from work in column "L" of workplace injuries and illnesses on the OSHA Form 300 Log for calendar year 2014.    a)    On or about 2/21/2014 Employee Incident Report #NY204881, 0 days away from work recorded.  b)    On or about 3/06/2014 Employee Incident Report #NY204885, 0 days away from work recorded.

Issued

2014-08-07 00:00:00

Abate by

2014-08-21 00:00:00

Penalty

Initial $0.00 · Current $0.00

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1904.29(b)(1): A log of all recordable work-related injuries and illness (OSHA Form 300 or equivalent) was not completed in the detail required by the regulation.   Location: Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center, One Brookdale Plaza, Brooklyn, NY:    On or about April 12, 2014, the employer did not correctly record the following workplace injuries and illnesses on the OSHA 300 Log for calendar year 2014.     a)     All entries in Column F of the OSHA Form 300 for calendar year 2014 did not describe the injury or illness, parts of the body affected, and the object/substance that directly injured or made the person ill as required by the regulation and listed in the instructions on the form.  b)    Entries in Column E did not identify where the event occurred in the details as described in the instructions.

Issued

2014-08-07 00:00:00

Abate by

2014-08-21 00:00:00

Penalty

Initial $0.00 · Current $0.00

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1904.29(b)(3): Each recordable injury or illness was not entered on the OSHA 300 Log and/or an incident report (OSHA Form 301or equivalent) within seven (7) calendar days  of receiving information that a recordable injury or illness has occurred:   Location: Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center, One Brookdale Plaza, Brooklyn, NY:    On or about April 21, 2014, the employer did not record the following workplace injuries and illnesses on the OSHA 300 Log within 7 calendar days.     a)    On or about 2/18/2014 Employee Incident Report #204882, an employee slipped from water on floor hit right knee, twisted left leg.  Case resulted in 13 days away from work.  b)    On or about 2/18/2014 Employee Incident Report #NY201003, an employee repositioning a patient felt pain in shoulder.  Case resulted in 30 days away from work.

Issued

2014-08-07 00:00:00

Penalty

Initial $7000.00 · Current $7000.00

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1904.35(b)(2)(v)(B): When an authorized employee representative asks for a copies of the OSHA 301 Incident Reports for an establishment where the agent represents employees under a collective bargaining agreement, The employer did not provide copies of those forms to the authorized employee representative within 7 calendar days. You are only required to give the authorized employee representative information from the OSHA 301 Incident Report section titled "Tell us about the case." You must remove all other information from the copy of the OSHA 301 Incident Report or the equivalent substitute form that you give to the authorized employee representative.   On or about February 18, 2014 An authorized representative from the Service Employee International Union (SEIU) requested copies of OSHA 301 Incident Reports or equivelents from Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center and was not provided copies within 7 calenders days as required.