Two proposed federal rules, related to workplace violence in healthcare settings and employee protections from infectious diseases, are expected to be released by year’s end and could affect aging services providers.
The Department of Labor on July 5 published an updated regulatory agenda, noting that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration may release two proposed rules by the end of the year.
The Prevention of Workplace Violence in Health Care and Social Assistance proposed rule would require senior living and other long-term care and healthcare providers to create workplace violence prevention plans to protect employees.
Following a December 2016 request for information from OSHA on the effects of violence in residential facilities, long-term care facilities and other settings, as well as prevention strategies, a broad coalition of labor unions and National Nurses United petitioned the agency for a standard for preventing workplace violence.
OSHA granted the petitions in 2017, and the Biden administration included a workplace violence prevention in healthcare rule on its fall 2022 agenda of regulatory actions.
A 2019 study found that violence against long-term care staff members had become “normalized,” affecting worker morale and health, as well as quality of life for residents. The authors suggested that their findings could help inform prevention strategies for senior living communities around the world, including increased training and resources, funding, staffing levels, public awareness, and legal and regulatory measures.
Before that, a 2016 Government Accountability Office report recommended that OSHA better protect workers in residential care settings from workplace violence by assisting its inspectors in developing citations, following up on warnings and assessing its results. The GAO reiterated this recommendation as a “priority” that fall in issuing new resources to key federal departments and agencies.
OSHA formally convened a Small Business Advocacy Review panel last spring to solicit feedback on the potential rule.
Worker protection rule
An infectious diseases proposed rule would aim to protect assisted living and other healthcare workers from exposure to COVID-19 and other infectious diseases at work.
This standard would regulate infectious diseases in the workplace — including COVID-19, tuberculosis, chicken pox and shingles, measles, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, pandemic influenza and severe acute respiratory syndrome — and would apply to healthcare settings (assisted living is included), as well as laboratories, correctional facilities and emergency response workers.
A COVID-19-specific healthcare rule remains in limbo under review by the Office of Management and Budget.
