The US Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission upheld a lawsuit and fine against a Colorado behavioral health facility, even though it agreed with the company that two of nine proposed risk reduction measures were not economically feasible.
In its Monday decision, the commission upheld a claim against UHS by Denver Inc., doing business as Highlands Behavioral Health Systems, stemming from incidents of violence between patients and staff at its Littleton facility.
However, the commission found that it would not be financially feasible for the company to hire additional staff and have a dedicated security team.
The citation and $11,934 penalty were previously set aside because the court was tasked with determining financial feasibility.
The commission judged that while the two mitigation measures were overly burdensome, it said the citation and fine were appropriate.
The commission wrote that it was not the company̵
7;s failure to implement specific forms of mitigation that was the basis for the citation, but rather “it is the overwhelming evidence of workplace violence and [the company’s] inadequate attempts to address it.”Source link
