HLS 19RS-2006 REENGROSSED
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 and the Department of Children and
4 Family Services, to study and make recommendations concerning potential policy
5 changes for creating safer workplace environments for nurses and social service
6 workers in this state, and to report these recommendations to the legislative
7 committees on health and welfare and on labor and industrial 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
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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 and the Department of Children and Family
29Services, to study and make recommendations concerning potential policy changes,
30including but not limited to potential legislation, for creating safer workplace environments
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HCR NO. 60
1in this state for nurses and social service workers, including workers employed by the
2department.
3 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Louisiana Health Works Commission shall
4submit a written report of the recommendations called for in this Resolution to the House
5Committee on Health and Welfare, the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare, the House
6Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations, and the Senate Committee on Labor and
7Industrial Relations on or before February 1, 2020.
8 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this Resolution be dedicated to the memory of
9Lynne Truxillo.
10 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
11chairperson of the Louisiana Health Works Commission, the chairperson of the Nursing
12Supply and Demand Council, the secretary of the Department of Children and Family
13Services, 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 Reengrossed 2019 Regular Session Dustin Miller
Requests the La. Health Works Commission, with assistance and guidance from the Nursing
Supply and Demand Council and the Dept. of Children and Family Services (DCFS), to
study and make recommendations concerning potential policy changes for creating safer
workplace environments for nurses and social service workers, including workers employed
by DCFS.
Requests the La. Health Works Commission to report recommendations resulting from the
study to the legislative committees on health and welfare and on labor and industrial
relations on or before Feb. 1, 2020.
Summary of Amendments Adopted by House
The House Floor Amendments to the engrossed bill:
1. Request the Dept. of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to assist and provide
guidance in the study called for in the Resolution.
2. Request that the study called for in the Resolution examine policies for creating
safer workplace environments for nurses and social service workers, including
personnel employed by DCFS.
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