Healthcare inspections for nursing homes to be tougher under new OSHA rules

Nursing homes will face more scrutiny based on a new key hazard list from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The new hazards, specified in an OSHA memorandum, include musculoskeletal disorders related to resident handling, workplace violence, bloodborne pathogens, tuberculosis and slips, trips and falls. The hazards were addressed in OSHA's recent National Emphasis Program – Nursing and Residential Care Facilities, which involved collecting specific injury and illness data from 80,000 healthcare facilities.

“The goal of this policy is to significantly reduce overexposures to these hazards through a combination of enforcement, compliance assistance and outreach,” the OSHA memo reads. OSHA Assistant Secretary of Labor David Michaels, Ph.D., stressed the importance of creating safe working environments in hospitals and nursing homes in a statement.

“The most recent statistics tell us that almost half of all reported injuries in the healthcare industry were attributed to overexertion and related tasks. Nurses and nursing assistants each accounted for a substantial share of this total,” Michaels said. “There are feasible solutions for preventing these hazards and now is the time for employers to implement them.”

A long-term care ombudsman advocates for rights of persons in long-term care settings like nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Learn more about long-term care issues by contacting ASCOG long-term care ombudsman supervisors Ruben Sotelo, direct: 580-736-7975, sote_ru@ascog.org, or Darin Terry, direct: 580-736-7974, terr_da@ascog.org, toll free: 1-800-658-1466.