Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. KHANNA. Madam Chair, I thank the gentleman from Connecticut for his tireless, bipartisan leadership in shepherding this bill to this historic point. It was my honor to work on the healthcare worker portions of this bill, and I am proud that it will pass today.

Madam Chair, I rise today in support of the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act.

For far too long, the workers who serve on the front lines of our communities have had to work in dangerous conditions without adequate protection. Every day, our nurses and social service workers face high levels of dangers, levels that most of us would find unacceptable in our own occupation. Their courage to keep working, despite these risks of violence, exemplifies the selfless nature of healthcare.

This bill follows what California has done in creating a nationwide workplace violence prevention standard, so people no longer have to work in fear.

Since the implementation of California's own standard, healthcare workers have experienced marked improvements in workplace violence prevention measures. The California Nurses Association reports that hospitals in California are seeing increased security staffing, increased training, and comprehensive reporting. These commonsense protections did not exist prior to California's standard.

It is time to expand these protections to healthcare and social service workers nationwide. This affects real people. We have heard stories of people who have been injured, killed, whose families have been harmed because of this kind of violence.

Madam Chair, I include in the Record a letter from National Nurses United in support of this legislation. National Nurses United has boldly led on this issue for many years, including getting the standards across the finish line in California. National Nurses United, Washington, DC, November 18, 2019.

Dear Representative: This week, the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on H.R. 1309, the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act, sponsored by Congressman Joe Courtney. National Nurses United, representing more than 155,000 registered nurses (RNs) across the country, is firmly in support of this bill and strongly urges you to vote in favor of it.

Our members work at the bedside in every state in the nation, and we know that when nurses are unsafe, our patients are also at risk. Violence on the job has become endemic for RNs and other workers in healthcare and social assistance settings. Nurses report being punched, kicked, bitten, beaten, and threatened with violence as they provide care to others--and far too many have experienced stabbings and shootings. But there are practical steps that healthcare and social service employers can take to fulfill their obligations to protect their employees from this serious occupational hazard. We know that violence can be prevented through the development and implementation of plans that are tailored to specific patient care units and facilities. These plans must assess and address the range of risks for violence--from the sufficiency of staffing and security systems to patient-specific risk factors.

H.R. 1309 mandates that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration promulgate a workplace violence prevention standard that would require healthcare and social service employers to develop and enforce plans to protect their employees from violence on the job. To ensure that workplace violence prevention plans are effective, workers (including nurses, other direct care employees, security personnel and ancillary staff) must be involved throughout all stages of plan development, implementation, and review, which go hand- in-hand with the standard's comprehensive training requirements. The enforceable occupational health and safety standard established in this legislation is necessary to create and maintain protections against workplace violence that our members, other workers in healthcare and social settings, and, importantly, our patients deserve.

This bi-partisan legislation is of high priority for RNs across the country, and we hope you will join with us in supporting it and voting yes on H.R. 1309 on the floor of the House of Representatives. Sincerely, Bonnie Castillo, RN,

Executive Director. Zenei Cortez, RN,

President. Deborah Burger, RN,

President. Jean Ross, RN,

President.

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Mr. KHANNA. I want to thank, again, the gentleman from Connecticut for his leadership.

Ms. FOXX of North Carolina. Madam Chair, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Allen).

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