Bill Text: CA AB1136 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Employment safety: health facilities.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2011-10-07 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 554, Statutes of 2011. [AB1136 Detail]

Download: California-2011-AB1136-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 1136	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 6, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Swanson

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2011

   An act to add Section 6403.5 to the Labor Code, relating to
employment safety.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1136, as amended, Swanson. Employment safety: health
facilities.
   Existing law regulates the operation of health facilities.
   Existing law, the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of
1973, establishes certain safety and other responsibilities of
employers and employees, including the requirement that employers
provide safety devices or safeguards reasonably necessary to render
the employment safe. 
   This bill would make findings and declarations concerning the
lifting, repositioning, and transfer of patients in acute care
hospitals and resulting injuries to hospital personnel. 
   This bill would require an employer to have a  zero
lift/safe   safe  patient handling policy for
patient care units,  to develop an injury prevention plan, 
and to provide trained lift teams or staff trained in safe lifting
techniques in each general acute care hospital. The policy would
require the replacement of manual lifting and transferring of
patients with powered patient transfer devices, lifting devices, or
lift teams, as specified.  Each hospital would be responsible for
developing its own needs assessment policy to determine whether a
patient lift, reposition, or transfer requires the use of a lift team
or powered lifting device. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    This act shall be known and cited as
the Hospital Patient and Health Care Worker Injury Protection Act.

   SEC. 2.   The Legislature finds and declares the
following:
   (a) In 2008, there were 36,130 occupational musculoskeletal
disorder (MSD) cases in private industry where the source of injury
or illness was a health care patient or resident of a health care
facility. This accounted for 11 percent of the 317,440 total cases of
MSDs that resulted in a least one lost day from work in 2008. Almost
all (98 percent) of the cases involving patient handling occurred
within the health care and social assistance industry, composing 55
percent of the 64,300 total MSD cases in that industry.
   (b) For MSD cases involving patient handling, almost all (99
percent) were the result of overexertion. A sprain, strain, or tear
was the type of injury that was incurred in 84 percent of the MSD
cases involving patient handling.
   (c) Nursing aides, orderlies and attendants incurred occupational
injuries or illnesses in 52 percent of the MSD cases involving health
care patients. Registered nurses accounted for 16 percent and home
health aides for another 6 percent. Other occupations with MSD cases
involving health care patients included licensed practical and
licensed vocational nurses; emergency medical technicians and
paramedics; personal and home care aides; health care support
workers; radiologic technologists and technicians; and medical and
health services managers.
   (d) Over 12 percent of the nursing workforce leaves the bedside
due to back injuries each year. California's nursing workforce is
aging at the same time patient acuity and obesity is rising. It is
imperative that we protect our registered nurses and other health
care workers from injury, and provide patients with safe and
appropriate care. At a cost of between sixty thousand dollars
($60,000) and one-hundred forty thousand dollars ($140,000) to train
and orient each new nurse, preventing turnover from injuries will
save hospitals money. 
   SECTION 1.   SEC. 3.   Section 6403.5 is
added to the Labor Code, to read:
   6403.5.  (a) An employer shall maintain a  zero lift/safe
  safe  patient handling policy at all times for
all patient care units, and shall provide trained lift teams or other
support staff trained in safe lifting techniques in each general
acute care hospital. The employer shall provide training to health
care workers on  appropriate use of lifting devices and
equipment, body mechanics, and the use of lifting devices to handle
patients safely.   all of the following:  
    (1) The appropriate use of lifting devices and equipment. 

   (2) The five areas of body exposure: vertical, lateral, bariatric,
repositioning, and ambulation.  
    (3) The use of lifting devices to handle patients safely. 
   (b) As the coordinator of care, the registered nurse shall be
responsible for the observation and direction of patient lifts and
mobilization, and shall participate as needed in patient handling in
accord with the nurse's job description.
   (c) For the purposes of this chapter, "  zero lift/safe
  safe  patient handling policy" means a policy
that requires replacement of manual lifting and transferring of
patients with powered patient transfer devices, lifting devices, or
lift teams, consistent with the employer's safety policies and the
professional judgment and clinical assessment of the registered
nurse. 
   (d) As part of the injury and illness prevention programs required
by Section 3203 of Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations, or
any successor law or regulation, employers shall adopt a patient
protection and health care worker back and musculoskeletal injury
prevention plan. The plan shall include a safe patient handling
policy component reflected in professional occupational safety
guidelines for the protection of patients and health care workers in
health care facilities.  
   (e) Included in the injury and illness prevention programs, each
general acute care hospital shall develop its own individual lift,
repositioning, and transfer needs assessment to determine if a
patient requires the use of a lift team and specialized equipment for
patient lifts, repositioning, and transfers.  
   (f) Patients identified as being at risk of injury due to a lift,
repositionings, or transfer, as well as patient lifts,
repositionings, or transfers identified, using the individual
hospital's own needs assessment, as having potential for placing
health care workers at risk of being injured while lifting,
repositioning, or transferring a patient, shall require a lift team
or specialized equipment to lift, reposition, or transfer the
patient.  
   (g) For patients not at risk for injury due to a lift,
repositioning, or transfer, and patient lifts, repositionings, or
transfers identified, using the individual hospital's own needs
assessment, as having little or no potential for placing health care
workers at risk of being injured, a lift team or specialized
equipment to lift, reposition, or transfer the patient shall not be
required.  
   (h) Lift team members may perform other duties as assigned during
their shift.  
   (i) A health care worker who refuses to lift, reposition, or
transfer a patient due to concerns about patient and worker safety
and the lack of trained lift team personnel or equipment shall not,
based upon the refusal, be the subject of disciplinary action by the
hospital or any of its managers or employees.