Safety

West Virginia protects healthcare workers from violence

OSHA Healthcare Connection, June 17, 2008

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In a report by the Charleston Gazette, West Virginia now has a law that imposes severe penalties to anyone who attacks a healthcare worker. The law grants healthcare workers the same protected status as firefighters, police, and paramedics.

Strict enforcement is in response to several accounts of violence in healthcare facilities within the past year. Workers have been victims to patients pulling guns, threatening emergency personnel with knives, and smashing heart monitors and IV pumps in drug-induced rages, the Gazette reported.

The law went into effect June 9.



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