Political Quotes

“on April 16, 2021, the House passed H.R. 1195, the Workplace Violence Prevention for Healthcare and Social Service Workers Act. That legislation, sponsored by Congressman Joe Courtney, passed the House 254 to 166 with the support of 38 Republicans. This legislation directs the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue a standard requiring healthcare and social service employers to write and implement a workplace violence prevention plan to protect employees from violent incidents. In the year since that legislation passed the House, we have been unable to generate the same level of support from our Republican colleagues needed to pass this legislation in the Senate. This is disappointing because the issue of protecting our healthcare and social service workers has never been more important. Roughly three-quarters of all nonfatal workplace injuries happen to healthcare workers. While it is too early to have comprehensive data from the pandemic, evidence from healthcare organizations suggests that workplace violence has exploded during the pandemic, nearing crisis levels for healthcare and social service workers. This workplace violence crisis is surely contributing to the staffing shortages that many healthcare employers have warned us about. In Wisconsin, vacancy rates for healthcare positions have been increasing, and threats against healthcare workers are viewed as the main culprit.…”