New workplace violence prevention requirements will require tough questions

by A.J. Plunkett (aplunkett@decisionhealth.com) 

Implementing The Joint Commission’s (TJC) workplace violence prevention requirements is going to take a multidisciplinary committee that is not afraid to ask hard questions about your organization’s culture of safety. 

And it will take strong leadership at a high level to emphasize how important the problem is and how serious your organization is about solving it, says AlGene Caraulia, MBA, vice president of Integration and Sustainability with the Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI), which provides training for healthcare professionals on verbal and nonviolent crisis intervention. 

Not protecting workers impacts both morale and a hospital’s bottom line, says representatives of healthcare workers and federal regulators. 

OSHA is working on workplace violence prevention standards for healthcare and social service workers, in part because of Bureau of Labor statistics that show 73% of reported workplace injuries and illnesses due to violence were among healthcare workers--and those were just the reports that were not fatal. 

The cost of each incidence of workplace violence can reach into the thousands of dollars, especially if a worker is sidelined to recover from injury or, worse, must be replaced, says Caraulia. 

TJC has formally published new and revised standards that will be effective January 1, 2022. 

The committee formed to oversee your workplace violence prevention program needs “to be prepared to ask the uncomfortable questions” to provide a real analysis of your hospital, says Caraulia. 

For more tips on implementing the new and revised standards, see the upcoming issue of Inside Accreditation & Quality.