Feb 9, 2021 11:10 PM
Tribal coal fields will test Biden’s environmental justice goals
https://www.scientificamerican.com/artic...ice-goals/
A massive coal plant, demolished in December, was a linchpin of the Navajo and Hopi economies for nearly 50 years...
Half of Texas' nurses experience workplace violence - lawmaker says it’s time to protect them.
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/09/...-violence/
INTRO: State Rep. Donna Howard was working as an intensive care unit nurse in the 1970s when a patient pulled an intravenous drip out of his arm and walked toward her. She rushed to help him — but didn’t see the metal urinal he was clutching behind his back until it was too late. He smacked her in the jaw with it, knocking her across the room. “I was briefly stunned by the hit,” said Howard, then working at the Brackenridge hospital in Austin. “But I continued working.”
For decades, health care workers have faced rampant violence in the workplace. Now praised as heroes of the pandemic, those front-line medical workers have been routinely scratched, bitten or verbally abused by patients. Well over half of Texas' nurses reported being subject to workplace violence in their career, according to a 2016 state study.
Nationwide, the rate of violence for health care workers increased more than 60% between 2011 and 2018, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has found the rate of serious violent incidents in health care is more than four times greater than for those in other industries. “It is presumed to be a part of the job,” Howard, D-Austin, said of the violence. “That's not OK.”
There are no federal laws that specifically target violence in nurses’ workplaces. OSHA does not require health care facilities to have violence prevention plans, though states like California and Washington have passed laws to do so. Howard has filed similar legislation in Texas that if passed this year, would place Texas in a vanguard of states that have backed similar protections for nurses.
It would require health care providers to create committees to prevent workplace violence and to offer medical treatment and other services after a violent incident. It would also bar facilities from penalizing nurses who report abuse... (MORE)
https://www.scientificamerican.com/artic...ice-goals/
A massive coal plant, demolished in December, was a linchpin of the Navajo and Hopi economies for nearly 50 years...
Half of Texas' nurses experience workplace violence - lawmaker says it’s time to protect them.
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/09/...-violence/
INTRO: State Rep. Donna Howard was working as an intensive care unit nurse in the 1970s when a patient pulled an intravenous drip out of his arm and walked toward her. She rushed to help him — but didn’t see the metal urinal he was clutching behind his back until it was too late. He smacked her in the jaw with it, knocking her across the room. “I was briefly stunned by the hit,” said Howard, then working at the Brackenridge hospital in Austin. “But I continued working.”
For decades, health care workers have faced rampant violence in the workplace. Now praised as heroes of the pandemic, those front-line medical workers have been routinely scratched, bitten or verbally abused by patients. Well over half of Texas' nurses reported being subject to workplace violence in their career, according to a 2016 state study.
Nationwide, the rate of violence for health care workers increased more than 60% between 2011 and 2018, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has found the rate of serious violent incidents in health care is more than four times greater than for those in other industries. “It is presumed to be a part of the job,” Howard, D-Austin, said of the violence. “That's not OK.”
There are no federal laws that specifically target violence in nurses’ workplaces. OSHA does not require health care facilities to have violence prevention plans, though states like California and Washington have passed laws to do so. Howard has filed similar legislation in Texas that if passed this year, would place Texas in a vanguard of states that have backed similar protections for nurses.
It would require health care providers to create committees to prevent workplace violence and to offer medical treatment and other services after a violent incident. It would also bar facilities from penalizing nurses who report abuse... (MORE)