WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, applauded the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on Wednesday after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced they are looking to create new workplace safety standards to protect healthcare and social assistance employees from workplace violence. OSHA’s announcement comes after Murphy called on DOL Secretary Labor Thomas E. Perez to develop a new workplace safety standard that would protect workers in healthcare settings from workplace violence.

“I called on DOL to take action last year because Connecticut doctors and nurses should never have to worry about their safety being threatened at work,” said Murphy. “I’m glad that OSHA and DOL are finally taking action to learn more about the severity and prevalence of workplace violence in healthcare settings, and I promise to work side by side with them in doing everything we can to put an end to it.”

Murphy encourages Connecticut residents to submit comments to OSHA before the April 6, 2017 deadline on issues related to workplace violence in healthcare settings that might be considered in developing the new standard. Comments can be submitted online here. Constituents with questions should contact Murphy’s Hartford office at 860-549-8463.

Healthcare workers are at an increased risk for workplace violence and existing workplace safety standards do not adequately protect individuals working in healthcare settings. From 2002 to 2013, incidents of serious workplace violence (those requiring days off for the injured worker to recuperate) were four times more common in healthcare than in private industry on average. Murphy called on DOL to develop the new workplace safety standard last year in response to reports of violence in hospitals and other healthcare settings around Connecticut.

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