OSHA Guidelines for Health Care

In 2004, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued its Guidelines for Health Care and Social Service Workers. These guidelines offer an excellent framework for thinking about the challenges of workplace violence prevention.

OSHA's five major elements of an effective workplace violence prevention program are:

• Management commitment and employee involvement;
• Worksite analysis;
• Hazard prevention and control;
• Safety and health training;
• Recordkeeping and program evaluation.

It is important to understand that these guidelines are intended to help organizations implement effective workplace violence prevention programs; they are not enforceable regulations. OSHA's regulatory authority derives from the General Duty Clause.