Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act
Floor Speech
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Ms. TLAIB. Madam Speaker, everyone should feel safe at work, and they should be safe at work.
I want to give testimony about Kenya, who is a 49-year-old certified nursing assistant. I want to bring her words here in the Congress to understand what we are trying to do, who we are trying to protect.
She said: ``You don't know if you are going to take the virus home to your family or not. I have two children, 16 and 18, and a 1-year-old grandbaby that I worry about all the time.
``I have a designated place where I take my uniform off and my shoes off to keep my family safe. I come in, go directly to the basement, where I already have a change of clothes, strip all my clothes off, put all of my clothes directly into the washing machine.
``Then there is my mom. I am her only child now, so that is a big scare because who is going to take care of her?
``It is very scary for my family. They don't want me to go back to work. But I have to go to work because I have to be able to take care of my family, and I tell them that my residents need me.''
These are the human stories behind the fact that people right now are asking us, the United States Congress, to pass legislation that is long overdue to protect workers in some of the most high-stress, least- appreciated positions in our communities.
These workers are on the front lines, day in and day out, serving vulnerable groups and facing rates of workplace violence at five times the rate of workers in other communities.
She is expressing in here just the stress of it and, on top of that, workplace violence.
Madam Speaker, I include in the Record a letter of support from SEIU on behalf of the over 1 million healthcare and social service workers across our country. Service Employees International Union, Washington, DC, March 25, 2021.
Dear Representative: On behalf of the over 1 million healthcare and social services workers of the Service Employees International Union and the 80,000 nurses of the National Nurse Alliance of SEIU Healthcare whom have been on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic, I urge you to support H.R. 1195, the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act.
Nurses are on the front lines of care, and workplace violence against healthcare workers, especially nurses, is an enormous and underreported problem. Almost three quarters of workplace violence injuries are suffered by healthcare and social service workers and these workers are nearly 5 times more likely to experience violence on the job than any other worker in the US. As nurses, we know that threats and violence are a major impediment to the essential care we provide.
H.R. 1195 would direct the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue a federal workplace violence standard. This specific standard would require employers in health care and social service assistance sectors to develop and implement a plan to protect workers from workplace violence.
The legislation requires that employer prevention plans be tailored to a specific workplace and employee population. This is important to overcome the very dangerous myth that workplace violence is part of the job, essentially random or unpredictable, and therefore, not preventable. Workplace violence, in both health care and social service assistance settings, has clear patterns and identifiable risks. Research has found that evidence-based practices, when implemented consistently, can significantly reduce incidents of workplace violence.
We cannot expect nurses, who spend more time with patients than any other health care providers and have been at the forefront of providing care during the pandemic, to be able to deliver the high-quality care we were trained to provide under threat of violence and assault. A safe and violence- free workplace is essential to good patient outcomes and an exceptional healthcare system.
Essential workers have put their lives on the line throughout the pandemic and now elected leaders must meet their demands to be respected, protected and paid. We ask that you support H.R. 1195 and send a clear message that message that Congress will not ignore the harm and suffering caused to health care, behavioral health and social assistance workers by workplace violence. Sincerely, Martha Baker, RN,
President SEIU 1991, Chair, National Nurse Alliance of SEIU Healthcare.
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Ms. TLAIB. These are protections that should have long been in place and enforced. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
When passed and signed into law, I urge OSHA to immediately work to issue the standards necessary to protect these workers.
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Ms. TLAIB. Madam Speaker, I gave that story of Kenya, who lives in Livonia, Michigan, because, on top of all of that, she was dealing with the number of protections that were lacking in the workplace.
Again, these are people who take care of our loved ones, take care of our sick, take care of those who are mentally ill, who need assistance, whose family members are not equipped for what they are trying to do. The least we can do, especially during this pandemic, is to offer them more protection and safety in the workplace.
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