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Rep. Susie Lee Helps Pass Bipartisan Legislation to Curb Violence Against Health Care and Social Service Workers

April 15, 2021

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Susie Lee (Nev.-03) released the following statement after voting to pass the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act (H.R. 1195). The legislation would help to curb the rising rates of workplace violence faced by health care and social service employees, such as nurses, emergency responders, medical assistants, physicians, and social workers.

"Protecting the safety of our health care workers, including our nurses, isn't just good policy – for me it's personal," said Rep. Susie Lee. "I have six health care workers in my family, and I know just how hard they work to keep their patients safe and healthy. The same is true for the thousands of social workers in Nevada. Prior to this pandemic, workplace violence was a major concern for these critical essential workers. Unfortunately, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, they're facing rising rates of workplace violence. We have the responsibility, and we have the authority, to protect America's workers, but we have not given our government or our businesses the tools they need to protect hard-working Americans from workplace violence. This bill will change that."

BACKGROUND: Our nation's caregivers – including nurses, social workers, and many others who dedicate their lives to caring for those in need – suffer workplace violence injuries at far higher rates than any other profession. Last year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that health care and social service workers were nearly five times as likely to suffer a serious workplace violence injury than workers in other sectors.

Public employees, such as caregivers in state and local government health care and social service work, suffer particularly high rates of workplace violence. In 2017, state government health care and social service workers were almost nine times more likely to be injured by an assault than private-sector health care workers. Workplace violence often causes both physical and emotional harm. Victims of these incidents often suffer career-ending post-traumatic stress disorders that take away their livelihoods and weaken an already stretched health care workforce.

This important bill is supported by many organizations, including:

• AFL-CIO

• American Industrial Hygiene Association

• Alliance for Retired Americans

• American Art Therapy Association

• American Association for Psychoanalysis in Clinical Social Work

• American College of Emergency Physicians

• American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

• American Counseling Association

• American Federation of Government Employees

• American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees

• American Federation of Teachers

• American Nurses Association

• American Psychiatric Association

• American Psychiatric Nurses Association

• American Public Health Association

• American Society of Safety Professionals

• Coalition of Labor Union Women of Southwestern P.A.

• Communications Workers of America

• Connecticut Association of Nurse Anesthetists

• ElevatingHOME

• Emergency Nurses Association

• International Association of Fire Fighters

• International Association of Forensic Nurses

• International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers

• Massachusetts Nurses Association

• Michigan Nurses Association

• Midstate Education and Service Foundation

• National Association of County Behavioral Health & Development Disability Directors

• National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians

• National Association of Rural Mental Health National Association of Social Workers

• National Council for Occupational Safety and Health

• National Nurses United New York Nurses Association

• Philadelphia Area Project on Occupational Safety and Health Public Citizen

• Rhode Island Committee on Occupational Safety and Health

• School Social Work Association of America

• Service Employees International Union

• Smart Transportation

• Teamsters

• United Auto Workers

• United Steelworkers

• Worksafe