According to a recent report, the Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited a state-run hospital over poor safety-related working conditions following an Aug. 1 inspection of the facility by OSHA authorities. The citation reflects an ongoing problem the hospital has had in relation to patient and employee safety issues in the past several years.
The report quoted a representative for the state’s Department of Human Services who stated that Minnesota OSHA was validated in its findings even though the hospital had worked during the last two years to improve its safety record by hiring more staff and offering improved training procedures. However, the representative continued to say, the hospital needs to improve its efforts in providing a safe working environment for its employees. The report noted that the Minnesota Legislature recently designated $56 million for safety improvements to the hospital.
Details regarding the hospital’s safety violations were not disclosed in the report. Because the hospital has been operating since 2011 through a conditional license provided by the Department of Human Services, the DHS has the right to contest the findings before those details would be publicized. At the time the report was released, it was unknown if DHS officials plan on challenging the citation. Offering treatment for mentally ill or dangerous adult patients, the hospital has suffered with allegations of patient neglect and administrative troubles. According to a news release in May, employees at the hospital were quoted as saying that they felt unsafe because of the new training policies in handling the patients.
Workers’ compensation benefits may be available in the unfortunate event a worker has been injured on the job. Through these benefits, the worker is entitled to receive payments for his or her medical expenses and income losses during the recovery period.
Source: St. Peter Herald, “Minnesota Security Hospital gets OSHA citation“, Jon Collins, August 20, 2014
Source: St. Peter Herald, “Minnesota Security Hospital gets OSHA citation“, Jon Collins, August 20, 2014