BILL NUMBER: AB 1136 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 5, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 20, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 31, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 26, 2011
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 and safeguards reasonably necessary to render
the employment safe. Willful or repeated violations are a crime.
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 maintain a safe patient
handling policy, as defined, for patient care units, and to provide
trained lift teams, as defined, or staff trained in safe lifting
techniques in each general acute care hospital. The safe patient
handling policy would require the replacement of manual lifting and
transferring of patients with powered patient transfer devices,
lifting devices, or lift teams, as specified. As part of the injury
and illness prevention programs required by existing regulations,
employers would be required to adopt a patient protection and health
care worker back and musculoskeletal injury prevention plan, which
shall include a safe patient handling policy component, as specified,
to protect patients and health care workers in health care
facilities. By changing the definition of a crime, this bill would
impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
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 at 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 are 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.
SEC. 3. Section 6403.5 is added to the Labor Code, to read:
6403.5. (a) An employer shall maintain a 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 that includes, but is not
limited to, 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
accordance with the nurse's job description.
(c) For purposes of this section, "lift team" means hospital
employees specifically trained to handle patient lifts,
repositionings, and transfers using patient transfer, repositioning,
or lifting devices as appropriate for the specific patient. Lift team
members may perform other duties as assigned during their shift.
(d) For the purposes of this section, "safe patient handling
policy" means a policy that requires replacement of manual lifting
and transferring of patients with powered patient transfer devices,
lifting devices, and lift teams, as appropriate for the specific
patient and consistent with the employer's safety policies and the
professional judgment and clinical assessment of the registered
nurse.
(e) 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.
(f) A health care worker who refuses to lift, reposition, or
transfer a patient due to concerns about patient or worker safety
and or 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.
SEC. 4. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.