FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 21, 2019
Contact: Katie Mostris, [email protected], 410-350-9756
AFSCME Maryland Speak Out to Support Passage of Workplace Violence Prevention Bill by U.S. House of Representatives
WASHINGTON—Today, the House of Representatives voted to pass H.R. 1309, the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act, which demands the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issue a workplace violence prevention standard requiring employers within the health care and social service sectors to develop and implement a plan to protect their employees from workplace violence.
AFSCME Council 3 Member, Miriam Doyle, spoke at a press conference, “My employer will have to seriously look at how their understaffing has contributed to my coworkers and myself facing violence at work…When I have stayed late at work, I have been threatened by patients with physical or sexual assault as I walked across a common area to access a locked door.… The problem is that employers have not been required to develop and implement an evidence-based workplace violence prevention plan. H.R. 1309 says times up. OSHA must issue a rule now.”
In Maryland, state employees are working at dangerously low staffing levels. Across 11 agencies, the Department of Legislative Services (DLS) reviewed laws, rules, regulations, caseload standards, and best practices related to agency staffing and can quantify the need for 2,631 positions. Short staffing leaves staff vulnerable to unsafe working conditions and reduces staff’s capacity to handle workplace violence. H.R. 1309 is a critical step forward to making an effective plan to keep staff across the state safe.
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AFSCME Maryland is the state’s largest and fastest-growing union for public service employees. We make Maryland happen.