Massachusetts Hospital Lacked Workplace Violence Protections, OSHA Judge Finds

A federal administrative law judge has determined that the manager of Fuller Hospital in Attleboro, Massachusetts exposed employees to workplace violence without adequate protections in 2019, particularly at times when hospital staffing was low.

The ruling follows an inspection by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, prompted by employee complaints, which found the hospital’s lack of safeguards subjected staff to workplace violence. Incidents included Fuller workers being kicked, punched, slapped, bitten and having their hair ripped out. Certain staff members also suffered repeated concussions. OSHA said more than 500 incidents of aggression occurred at Fuller Hospital during a seven-month period.

UHS of Delaware Inc. manages the healthcare operations at Fuller Hospital and other facilities owned by its parent, Universal Health Services, which is one of the nation’s largest behavioral healthcare service providers and owns at least 330 behavioral health facilities nationwide. Fuller Hospital is a 102-bed behavioral health facility that provides acute inpatient hospitalization for adolescents and adults.

The companies have appealed the trial decision to the full Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

OSHA cited UHS-DE and UHS-Fuller for exposing employees to workplace violence hazards in December 2019. The companies contested the citation before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. In July and August 2022, the Boston OSHA office tried the case over two weeks. Employees testified about injuries they suffered, their unsafe working conditions, and inadequate training and staffing.

On Jan. 20, 2023, Review Commission Administrative Law Judge Carol A. Baumerich affirmed OSHA’s serious citation and found that the companies operated Fuller Hospital as a single employer. The judge also determined OSHA’s proposed abatement measures were feasible and that they would materially reduce the hazard of workplace violence.

These abatement measures included: ensuring that units are adequately staffed to handle behavioral health emergencies; providing employees with personal panic alarms; adequately training new employees; conducting post-incident debriefings and investigations; and providing trained security personnel on all three shifts.

Judge Baumerich also sanctioned both companies for destroying surveillance videos showing workplace violence and sanctioned UHS-DE for failing to comply with its discovery obligations and ordered the companies to pay the department $20,175 in attorneys’ fees.

In a related legal proceeding, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts previously ordered UHS-Fuller and UHS-DE to pay the department $30,515 in attorneys’ fees after they failed to comply with an OSHA-issued subpoena for the surveillance videos in this case.

Source: OSHA

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