HLS 19RS-2006 ENGROSSED
2019 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 60
BY REPRESENTATIVE DUSTIN MILLER
BOARDS/COMMISSIONS: Urges the La. Health Works Commission to develop policy
recommendations for creating safer workplace environments for nurses and social
service providers
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2To urge and request the Louisiana Health Works Commission, with assistance and guidance
3 from the Nursing Supply and Demand Council, to study and make recommendations
4 concerning potential policy changes for creating safer workplace environments for
5 nurses and social service workers in this state, and to report these recommendations
6 to the legislative committees on health and welfare and on labor and industrial
7 relations.
8 WHEREAS, in a 2016 report entitled "Workplace Safety and Health: Additional
9Efforts Needed to Help Protect Health Care Workers from Workplace Violence", the
10Government Accountability Office reported that, based on an analysis of Bureau of Justice
11Statistics data, over seven hundred thirty thousand cases of healthcare workplace assaults
12occurred over the five-year span from 2009 through 2013; and
13 WHEREAS, the healthcare and social service professions experience the highest
14rates of injuries caused by workplace violence; registered nurses, practical nurses, nurse
15aides, mental health professionals, home health providers, and personal care attendants are
16all at high risk of such injuries; and
17 WHEREAS, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that healthcare and social
18service workers suffered sixty-nine percent of all workplace violence injuries in 2016 and
19are nearly five times as likely to suffer such injuries than workers overall; and
Page 1 of 3 HLS 19RS-2006 ENGROSSED
HCR NO. 60
1 WHEREAS, workplace violence in healthcare and social service sectors is
2increasing; BLS data shows that private sector injury rates resulting from workplace violence
3in healthcare and social service professions rose by sixty-three percent between 2006 and
42016; and
5 WHEREAS, due to under-reporting of injuries sustained in episodes of workplace
6violence, actual injury rates from workplace violence are likely to be far higher than those
7reflected in official statistics; and
8 WHEREAS, violence against workers in healthcare settings results most commonly
9from assaults by patients, clients, and persons accompanying patients or clients; and
10 WHEREAS, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration
11(OSHA), of the nearly twenty-five thousand workplace assaults reported annually,
12approximately three quarters, or over eighteen thousand assaults, occur in healthcare and
13social service settings; and
14 WHEREAS, OSHA publishes a guidance document entitled "Guidelines for
15Preventing Workplace Violence for Healthcare and Social Service Workers"; however, this
16guidance is currently not enforceable; and
17 WHEREAS, absent an enforceable standard for preventing workplace violence,
18employers are not ultimately required to implement a violence prevention program and
19workers have insufficient protection from violence in their places of employment; and
20 WHEREAS, in March and April of 2019, several healthcare workers in Louisiana
21were victims of high-profile workplace violence incidents; tragically, after one of these
22attacks, a Baton Rouge nurse died as a result of her injuries; and
23 WHEREAS, these violent incidents illustrate the critical importance of workplace
24safety in healthcare settings and the urgent need to raise awareness of this longstanding
25issue.
26 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
27urge and request the Louisiana Health Works Commission, with assistance and guidance
28from the Nursing Supply and Demand Council, to study and make recommendations
29concerning potential policy changes, including but not limited to potential legislation, for
30creating safer workplace environments for nurses and social service workers in this state.
Page 2 of 3 HLS 19RS-2006 ENGROSSED
HCR NO. 60
1 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Louisiana Health Works Commission shall
2submit a written report of the recommendations called for in this Resolution to the House
3Committee on Health and Welfare, the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare, the House
4Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations, and the Senate Committee on Labor and
5Industrial Relations on or before February 1, 2020.
6 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this Resolution be dedicated to the memory of
7Lynne Truxillo.
8 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
9chairperson of the Louisiana Health Works Commission, the chairperson of the Nursing
10Supply and Demand Council, and the family of Lynne Truxillo.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HCR 60 Engrossed 2019 Regular Session Dustin Miller
Urges and requests the La. Health Works Commission, with assistance and guidance from
the Nursing Supply and Demand Council, to study and make recommendations concerning
potential policy changes for creating safer workplace environments for nurses and social
service workers, and to report these recommendations to the legislative committees on health
and welfare and on labor and industrial relations on or before Feb. 1, 2020.
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