PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division announced Thursday that the Oregon State Hospital will be cited for three violations related to “workplace violence and injuries.”
Oregon OSHA says the violations are in the areas of documentation, thorough investigation and response. OSH also received three warnings about “other related areas that could become issues in the future if not fixed now,” according to the agency.
Oregon Health Authority Director Patrick Allen says hospital staff members have been injured while caring for patients.
“Members of our hospital staff are getting injured while caring for patients, and that is not acceptable. Period,” Allen said. “We must do better, and we will do better. We appreciate what the Oregon OSHA violations bring to light, we will continue to partner with our hospital staff to find additional ways to prevent workplace violence.”
OSH Superintendent Dolly Matteucci shared similar sentiments and pushed that OSH staff deserves to have a safe workplace.
“Our staff deserve to come to work each day without the fear of being hurt. We know we have more work to do, and we know more thorough investigation of incidents will help us learn from what happened and prevent future occurrences,” Matteucci said.
OSH reportedly started making changes to prevent workplace violence prior to the Oregon OSHA investigation. These changes included hiring a workplace violence consultant, implementing the Broset Violence Checklist to assist in identifying patients who are high risk for violent behavior and providing more training opportunities for employees.
According to OHA, one of the major reasons for these changes was a shift in the patient population. There has reportedly been an increase in patients who are more likely to present behavior challenges until medication or other treatment can start working.
OHA says there have also been issues with consistent staffing, COVID-19 and other external demands.
A full report by Oregon-OSHA is expected in the coming weeks.