A seniors’ care facility in Texas has run afoul of OSHA, having been cited for seven serious safety violations following an inspection under OSHA’s national emphasis program for nursing and residential care facilities.

A seniors’ care center in the Dallas, TX, area has been cited by OSHA for seven serious violations under OSHA’s national emphasis program for nursing and residential care facilities. Proposed penalties against Williamsburg Village Healthcare Campus in Desoto, TX, have been set at $46,000.

“Healthcare workers perform an important service and should be protected from preventable injuries while caring for others,” says Stephen Boyd, OSHA’s area director in Dallas. “It is the employer’s responsibility to provide a safe and healthy workplace for its workers and OSHA will hold employers accountable.”

The violations allege failure to:

• Assess whether workplace hazards were present or likely to be present.
• Ensure that each affected worker uses appropriate eye or face protection.
• Ensure that energy control programs consist of appropriate procedures, training and periodic inspections.
• Provide suitable facilities for quick drenching or flushing of the eyes and body.
• Provide a written exposure control plan designed to eliminate or minimize worker exposure to hazards.
• Train and provide workers with information on hazardous chemicals in the workplace.
• Ensure that a written schedule for cleaning and decontamination is based upon the location within the facility and the type of surface to be cleaned.

OSHA conducted a programmed inspection in June 2013 under its national emphasis program for nursing and residential care facilities, in which targeted inspections are geared toward reducing occupational illnesses and injuries from exposure to blood and other potentially infected material; exposure to hazardous chemicals; slips, trips and falls; communicable diseases; ergonomic stressors; and workplace violence.