Injuries high for nursing home workers
By Candace Goforth
Knight Ridder News Service
AKRON, Ohio — A manufacturing plant. The fast-moving traffic of city streets. A landfill active with heavy machinery.
Keys to preventing injuries among nursing home staff: • Regular training. • Equipment to help lift patients. • Employees seeking help before lifting a resident. • Nursing assistants helping plan the care given to every patient. Source: Genevieve Gipson, director, Career Nurse Assistants Program, Ohio; also consultant, Pleasant View Health Care Center, Barberton, Ohio
A nursing home.
Reducing injuries among the staff
How does the sedate environment of a residential healthcare facility end up on this list?
Like the others, it's one of the most hazardous places to work in the United States.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, the nursing home industry's worker-injury rate was third highest among 84 industry groups in 2003, the most recent year for which statistics are available.
Nursing homes are not governed by direct standards set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. While efforts are being made to improve worker safety, the issues are complicated and the solutions are costly.
Meanwhile, the health aides who bear the brunt of those injuries are in one of the fastest-growing occupations.
"Ten years ago, we didn't even pay attention to nursing homes," said Rob Medlock, director of OSHA's Cleveland-area office.
"People thought, 'Nursing homes? They cared for my grandfather — I know they're good.' "
The trouble is, in caring for those who can't care for themselves, workers sustain their own injuries. Nursing assistants, in particular, hurt their backs, necks and shoulders while lifting patients.
They also face the often-unspoken hazards of working with individuals whose medical conditions make them prone to lash out, kick or even strike their caregivers.
Unlike other high-risk industries, such as construction and manufacturing, nursing homes do not operate under any OSHA standard aimed at preventing the injuries common to their workers.
Policymakers in the Clinton administration considered an ergonomic standard that would have addressed the industry's injury rate. But that effort failed in 2001, as industry lobbyists warned that another set of requirements would overwhelm small businesses.
In 2002, the agency issued ergonomic guidelines for the nursing home industry. The guidelines, essentially unenforceable recommendations, were criticized by industry lobbyists who considered them a step toward new regulations.
Without an enforceable standard, OSHA has had to find other ways to penalize employers in the industry who don't make an effort to protect their workers.
For the most egregious offenders, inspectors have relied on the Occupational Safety and Health Act's general duty clause, which requires employers to provide a workplace free from recognized hazards.
OSHA has also turned to creative approaches, using outreach efforts. The Voluntary Protection Program allows employers with effective safety programs that maintain low injury and illness rates to be exempt from regular OSHA inspections.
Pleasant View Health Care Center in Barberton, Ohio, is an example of a nursing home that has consistently done relatively well at keeping workplace injuries down.
"We've made an effort to be in tune with the employees' needs in meeting the needs of the residents," said Pleasant View administrator Lucy Majorkiewicz, who, along with her brother and sister, is the third generation in her family to run the 121-bed nursing home.
"I've been here for 24 years," said Diane Everson, one of Pleasant View's 180 workers. "Knock on wood —I have never hurt myself. Teamwork: That's the thing."
