Health Professionals and Allied Employees/AFT/AFL-CIO
110 Kinderkamack Road
Emerson, NJ 07630
(201)262-5005
Contact: Jeanne Otersen (201) 262-5005 or cell (201) 280-9729
For Immediate Release
January 4, 2008
Healthcare Workplaces Gain Safety Measures
Governor Corzine signed two bills into law to make hospitals and nursing homes safer places to work on Thursday, following a two-year effort by the state’s largest healthcare union, the Health Professionals and Allied Employees,
A recent survey commissioned by HPAE found that more than half of the Registered Nurses responding said they had been injured on the job. Moving and lifting of patients was a key concern, as was the increasing violence in hospital emergency rooms.
The NJ Legislature passed both the Safe Patient Handling Act (Vitale/Weinberg and Conaway/Gordon) and Violence Prevention Act (Vitale/Coniglio and Conaway/Voss) in lame duck by near unanimous votes.
“These common sense measures prevent injuries to workers and patients; save our health care system countless funds spent on medical claims; and help address the nursing and healthcare worker shortage ,” said Ann Twomey, president of the 12,000 member HPAE. “The actions of the NJ Legislature and the Governor demonstrate their commitment to the safety of our healthcare workforce, as well as that of our patients.”
The Safe Patient Handling Act requires hospitals and nursing homes to reduce ‘manual’ lifting or moving of patients without the use of assistive devices, in order to reduce the high injury rate among nurses and health care workers. The Violence Prevention Act requires hospitals and nursing homes to conduct risk assessment programs, and conduct training among staff in prevention strategies, as well as increase security measures. NJ joins a handful of other states that have enacted similar legislation and NJ is considered among the most comprehensive.
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