House Hearing on Workplace Violence Legislation Mandates Prevention by Social and Health Service Providers

ANCOR is sharing the article below from Politico Morning Shift as an update to a previous ANCOR Capitol Correspondence story on the hearing described below. As mentioned previously, ANCOR is closely following this issue because our primary concern is to ensure both that individuals served are not prevented to having access to community services and that the DSPs who perform important work with these individuals have the support and safety they need. If you are interested in participating in a work group discussing this issue below, contact Sarah Meek at [email protected].

As shared by Politico Morning Shift:

“DEMS WANT FASTER WORKPLACE VIOLENCE REGULATIONS: House Democrats are pressing to move faster to prevent acts of violence committed against healthcare and social service workers, arguing that an OSHA rulemaking will take too long. “The agency is many years away from issuing a proposed standard—much less a final one,” Rep. Alma Adams (D-N.C.), chair of the House workforce protections panel, said at a Wednesday hearing, citing an the Government Accountability Office’s estimate that it takes OSHA more than seven years to issue a rule.

The hearing Wednesday was on Rep. Joe Courtney’s Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act H.R. 1309 (116). The bill would require OSHA to issue within one year an interim final standard compelling health care and social service employers to devise a workplace violence prevention plan, and a final standard within 42 months. But Manesh Rath, a partner at the management-side law firm Keller and Heckman, objected at the hearing that an expedited rulemaking wouldn’t give the public sufficient time to weigh in. Read more on the legislation here.”