Healthcare employees are nearly five times more likely than workers in other industries to be victims of workplace violence, which led OSHA to release guidelines for preventing violence. Despite OSHA's emphasis, there is currently no specific OSHA standard addressing this. As a result, the agency enforces employer obligations to prevent workplace violence through the "general duty clause." In a bylined article in HR Legal & Compliance Excellence, Pam Williams outlines a 12-step plan to help employers take proactive measures to reduce risk to employees, including identifying patients and clients with known violent behavior and histories, and creating and implementing a "buddy system."
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