Rep. Courtney Leads Bipartisan Lawmakers in Curbing Violence Against Health Care and Social Service Workers
“No worker—especially those we rely on for care—should be injured or killed on the job.”
WASHINGTON, DC—Today, Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT), a senior member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), and Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), a senior member of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, re-introduced bipartisan, bicameral legislation to curb the rising rates of workplace violence facing health care and social service workers, including nurses, emergency responders, medical assistants, physicians, and social workers.
Health care and social service workers continue to face the highest rates of injuries caused by workplace violence of any industry. Health care workers make up more than three quarters of all workplace violence nationwide, and are almost four times more likely to suffer a serious injury from workplace violence than workers in any other workplace setting.
The Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act compels the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to do what employees, safety experts, and Members of Congress have been calling for for years – develop an enforceable standard to ensure that employers are creating safe workplaces that their employees deserve, sooner rather than later.
“No worker—especially those we rely on for care—should be injured or killed on the job. Unfortunately, this workforce endures more violence than any other workforce in America. Tragically, a dedicated nurse from eastern Connecticut was murdered on the job in 2023 during a solo home-health visit to an extremely high risk patient with a criminal history of violence. Joyce’s preventable death was a reminder of the urgent need for Congress to buck up and act,” said Rep. Courtney. “Our legislation would put proven tactics into practice in hospitals and health care settings across the country to prevent violence before it happens. I’m grateful for the bipartisan coalition— backed by the support of the workers directly affected by this violence—who has worked tirelessly to move this legislation forward year after year.”
“Nurses, doctors, and anyone who is working to give our families health care deserve to work in a place that they are safe and free from violence, but in recent years we’ve seen workplace violence skyrocket,” said Senator Baldwin. “We rely on our health care workers every day to protect our communities, and in turn, we need to protect them from senseless acts of violence. That’s why I am introducing legislation to give our health care professionals long-overdue basic protections, helping address our healthcare workforce shortage and keeping our frontline heroes safe.”
“We must take care of our healthcare professionals as they have taken care of us and our loved ones. It is unacceptable to see that a crucial part of our community is endangered because of violent patients,” said Rep. Bacon. “I'm excited to co-sponsor the reintroduction of the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act. This legislation will ensure a safe working environment for healthcare personnel who have dedicated their careers to improving our community’s health and furthermore patients.”
“Health care and social service workers are routinely subjected to threats, assaults, and injury from foreseeable and preventable acts of workplace violence at rates that significantly exceed all other professions,” said House Education and Workforce Committee Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott. “This bill strengthens protections for these critical workers by requiring that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issue an enforceable standard within 42 months of enactment that ensures employers adopt plans to address preventable acts of workplace violence. I am grateful to Rep. Courtney for his leadership on this bill and his continued commitment to the safety of our health and social service workers.”
For the past decade, Rep. Courtney has led the charge in Congress to mitigate violence against health care and social service workers.
In 2013, Rep. Courtney requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) study trends of workplace violence in the health care sector and identify options for OSHA to curtail it. In 2016, in response to the GAO report, Rep. Courtney and other members asked OSHA to develop a workplace safety standard to protect health care workers from this rising violence. Since then, Rep. Courtney has successfully led House passage of the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act alongside a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the 116th and 117th Congresses. In the 117th Congress, the bill passed with 254 votes, including 37 Republicans. Unfortunately, then-Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Republican House leadership failed to take up the bill in the 118th Congress.
“I have been tracking the issue of violence against health care workers for a decade. In that time, several Presidential administrations have come and gone, and still this problem remains inadequately addressed, despite widespread agreement that a standard is needed,” Courtney added. “I remain committed to fighting alongside longtime advocates to once and for all mitigate the serious threats facing our health care and social service workers.”
AFL-CIO; AFSCME; American College of Emergency Physicians; American Federation of Teachers; American Nephrology Nurses Association; American Nurses Association; American Physical Therapy Association; American Public Health Association; Association of Women's Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses; Emergency Nurses Association; IMPACT in Healthcare; International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM Union); International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers; Maryland Chapter of American College of Emergency Physicians; National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians; National Association of Social Workers; National Nurses United; PhilaPOSH.
To read a fact sheet and section-by-section of the bill, click here.
Press Contact
Sam Varie, 202-503-6102
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