Workplace Violence Prevention Campaign Update

July 2015

The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) is in the process of drafting workplace violence prevention regulations to protect health care workers, and UNAC/UHCP has been at the forefront of those discussions.

Our UNAC/UHCP workplace violence prevention team gave testimonies before the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (OSHSB) in Sacramento on June 18 to challenge the recent elimination of bullying language from draft recommendations. Testimony stressed the importance of bullying language and why it needs to be addressed. On July 16, more than 50 UNAC/UHCP members and allies once again took action before the Standards Board in Pasadena, where we provided testimony on why bullying language should be added back to draft regulations.

Despite this setback, we are thrilled to announce the addition of bullying language to the recent tentative National Agreement reached at Kaiser National Bargaining this year. The contract provisions include an organization-wide analysis of workplace violence and the development of programs to improve violence prevention. This is a huge victory for health care professionals and Coalition members.

We have made great progress since the launch of the workplace violence prevention campaign and we will continue to uphold our standards. We cannot allow for watered down safety regulations. Lives are at risk with each passing day and UNAC/UHCP will stand strong to keep patients and health care workers safe.

Click here for updates on the workplace violence prevention campaign.