Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Lori Trahan (MA-03) cast her vote in support of H.R. 1195, the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act, bipartisan legislation she cosponsored to provide health care and social service workers the protection they deserve by compelling the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to require employers in the health care and social services sectors to implement workplace violence prevention programs.

“Health care and social service workers face on-the-job violence at rates up to 12 times higher than the overall workforce. It’s an issue that has only gotten worse during COVID, essentially creating an epidemic within a pandemic,” said Congresswoman Trahan. “The Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act will finally ensure that frontline care workers are afforded basic protections against preventable violence. Their safety and wellbeing should always be the priority, and this legislation will ensure that’s the case.”

Amid rising rates of workplace violence against health care and social service workers, H.R. 1195 directs OSHA to issue standards requiring health care and social service employers to write and implement a workplace violence prevention plan to prevent and protect employees from assaults at work. It also requires employers, in developing their workplace violence prevention programs, to identify risks, specify solutions, and require training, reporting, and incident investigations, and provides protections to workers from retaliation for reporting violent incidents in the workplace. 

The Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act is supported by a large number of organizations, including AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, AFSCME, SEIU, Teamsters, United Auto Workers, United Steelworkers, Communication Workers of America, International Association of Fire Fighters, American Federation of Teachers, American Nurses Association, National Nurses United, Emergency Nurses Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Psychiatric Nurses Association,  American College of Emergency Physicians, American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, National Association of Social Workers, American Society of Safety Professionals, and National Council for Occupational Safety and Health.

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