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Gov. Wolf signs two bills to protect health care workers’ safety
Listen to this articleGov. Tom Wolf signed two bills this week meant to improve the safety of health care workers in Pennsylvania.
Act 51 of 2020, sponsored by Senator Judy Ward, R-Blair, raises the penalty for assaulting a health care workers from a second degree misdemeanor to a second degree felony.
Act 52 of 2020, allows health care professionals to remove their last name from their photo identification badges — a rule previously required in all health care facilities. The bill was sponsored by Senator Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-York).
Removing a health care worker’s last name from their photo ID could protect them from ill-intentioned patients looking to stalk, threaten or harass them both inside and outside of the facility, Phillips-Hill wrote in the bill‘s memorandum addressed to the Senate.
According to data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, between 2002 to 2013, the rate of serious workplace violence incidents was more than four times greater in health care than in private industry on average. Health care workers accounted for nearly as many serious violent injuries as all other industries combined.
The Harrisburg-based Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, thanked Wolf for signing both bills into law, noting that the health and safety of health care workers is a key priority, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“These laws will pay a critical role in helping our hospital families feel protected from violence in their workplaces,” said Andy Carter, president and CEO of the association. “Their enactment represents a long-time effort to build a bipartisan consensus around common sense steps to protect our health care workers.”
