As violence against healthcare workers continues to rise during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined Montefiore Medical Center for failing to keep workers safe in multiple incidents.

Montefiore will pay $17,555 to deal with the attack on the staff. In early 2021, a psychopath attacked multiple workers while under observation and during an attempted escape. OSHA says Montefiore did not develop and implement adequate measures to protect employees from recurrence of serious harm, and did not properly document the harm.

“We are responding to OSHA’s statement; of course, the health and safety of our employees and patients is our top priority,” a Montefiore spokesperson said.

Latest fines alert other strict suppliers Workplace Violence Prevention Program is required by regulatory and certification bodies.

Violence Cases against healthcare workers have increased over the past decade, and hospitals say it’s only gotten worse over the past decade Pandemic.

While regulatory agencies such as OSHA are the last stop in enforcing safe workplaces, other organizations such as the American Hospital Association and the Joint Commission have taken steps to help hospital leaders ensure workplace safety.

“Building a safer workplace at your hospital starts with the CEO,” said Robyn Begley, senior vice president and chief nursing officer for the American Hospital Association. “There are jobs that can be delegated, of course, but they do require a lot of driving and leadership: what’s important to the CEO is also important to all the other leaders in the organization, and by prioritizing workplace safety, it’s also investing resources.”

Those ones resource That could include tools such as providing employees with hidden safety buttons to alert nearby employees and safety, as Bassett Medical Network in Cooperstown, New York did last year.Last year, the American Heart Association Worked with a healthcare safety and security group to develop guidelines for the hospital that included trauma support for affected employees, violence intervention strategies, creating a culture of safety, and reporting and mitigating risks.

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