"Healthcare workers encouraged to demand “less self-sacrifice rhetoric and more straight talk about hazards."
Read the editorial by Dr. John Howard, head of the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

Every day, nurses and healthcare workers are witnesses to dramatic changes in healthcare that have a direct and negative impact on the safety of healthcare workplaces.

Understaffing, increased violence, sicker patients needing more assistance with moving and lifting, infectious agents such as influenza, TB and MRSA, and the introduction of new technologies all contribute to making healthcare workplaces more stressful and more hazardous to our health.

Nurses and healthcare workers suffer work-related injuries and lost work time at much higher rates than other workers, and have come to believe that work-related injuries and illnesses 'come with the job'. But caring for patients shouldn't mean endangering oneself.

HPAE fights for safer workplaces through a program of legislative and regulatory advocacy; member education and training, and contract language. HPAE members have fought for and won state legislation requiring health care facilities to use safer needle devices, and implement workplace violence prevention and safe patient handling programs. A requirement that frontline caregivers have a meaningful voice in the development and implementation of these programs through mandated joint labor management committees is a hallmark of all three pieces of legislation.

HPAE members benefit from the small group, participatory education and training programs offered by the NJ Work Environment Council.

Contract language covers a range of health and safety concerns including chemical exposures, latex use, workers' compensation and walkthrough inspection rights for the union.

HPAE also has a state-wide Health and Safety Committee which works to enforce standards in our workplaces, and develop and monitor laws and regulations that make our workplaces safer for patients and workers. Contact Harriet Rubenstein at hrubenstein@hpae.org for more information.

A. Safe Lift

• The law
• Factsheet

B. Workplace Violence Prevention

• The law
• Factsheet
• HPAE Workplace Violence Reporting Form (Download here - PDF format)
• HIPAA and violence reporting: OSHA Factsheet and Press Release

C. OSHA/PEOSH recordkeeping requirements

• HPAE Factsheet: Understanding and Using OSHA’s Injury & Illness Reporting Forms
• OSHA opinion letter on union access to complete 300 log
• OSHA opinion letter on HIPAA and 300 logs

D. Safe Needles

• Factsheet: Making the Best Use of Your Sharps Injury Log
• Summary of 3rd Circuit decision: Employers must reimburse employees for time spent receiving treatment and management for needlestick exposures

E. Seasonal & H1N1 Flu

• Pandemic Flu Guidelines
• AFT Healthcare Guidelines
• AFT President Letter to Hon. Kathleen Sebelius and Hon. Hilda Solis
• Current CDC Guidelines
• OSHA materials for HCWs (PDF format)

F. Toxics in Healthcare under Health and Safety

• Physicians for Social Responsibility Study