Victory! We’ve done it again – We’ve won health and safety regulations that set a model for the nation and the world!
Today members of the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (OSHSB) voted unanimously to adopt regulations to prevent workplace violence in healthcare settings. These regulations are the direct result of tireless organizing and advocacy by CNA nurses.
“This is a huge victory that you all created through your unity. This is the strongest workplace violence prevention regulation in the nation,” said Bonnie Castillo, California Nurses Association, Director of the Health and Safety Department, to the nurses that traveled to the hearing from throughout the state to witness the historic vote.
Thanks to all of you who worked so hard on this collective effort
“The reason CNA nurses have fought so hard for this standard is because they understand better than anyone the serious nature of this problem. They face violence on the job on a daily basis. They understand the fear and insecurity that results when their employers are unprepared to cope with violent situations and unwilling to do what is required to prevent violence from occurring. Today’s victory puts employers on notice that they will be held accountable for preventing violence in the workplace,” said Castillo.
The regulations will implement SB 1299, authored by former Senator Alex Padilla (and current Secretary of State), the Healthcare Workplace Violence Prevention Act, which was sponsored by CNA and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2014.
These regs define workplace violence broadly to encompass actual acts of violence, as well as the threat of violence, and they require employers to develop a comprehensive Workplace Violence Prevention Plan that emphasizes prevention, training, and worker participation.
No other state, nor the federal government, has established these kinds of workplace violence prevention standards and regulations for healthcare workers, and nurses hope that they will serve as a leader and model for other industries as well as the rest of the country.
Considering a national epidemic of workplace violence against registered nurses and healthcare workers, CNA’s national arm National Nurses United (NNU) has recently petitioned the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for a formal workplace violence prevention standard.
“We know that these protections are necessary across America, and that’s why it’s so important—thanks to the OSHSB vote—that California can now serve as a model for the nation,” said Castillo. “Our nurses will not stop fighting until the federal OSHA has the same workplace violence protections in place because these regulations will save lives.”