Any states with safe patient handling laws pending???

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Mar 10, 2005

see:

ana :

ana's capital update -february 28, 2005

ana pushes for state legislation to protect nurses

ana, in cooperation with state nurses associations, is promoting state legislation designed to protect nurses from potentially career-ending musculoskeletal injuries while increasing a patient's safety and comfort. this will be accomplished through enacting legislation that requires health care facilities to develop safe patient handlingprograms and utilize safe patient handlingtechniques and equipment.

read the article

protecting the next generation:

http://www.nursingworld.org/tan/2004/sepoct04.pdf

ny: http://www.nysna.org/programs/legislative/activity.htm#cla1

nurses deserve a safe workplace that is free from physical hazards that threaten their livelihood and even their lives. nysna supports legislative proposals that require the use of ergonomic devices to prevent musculoskeletal injuries and measures to prevent violence in the workplace.

bills, sponsors and status

: to require employers with 50 or more employees to develop and implement plans to protect employees against violence -

a3636

(john) - assembly labor committee.

ensuring a safe workplace: talking points

ma: health and safety :: 'safe lifting' legislation filed by mna ...

nurse safety: have we addressed the risks? - allnurses.com nursing ...

lee1 · Mar 11, 2005

thanks, so only MA and NY so far.

It is really a shame that OSHA can not mandate to hospitals the way they have mandated to VA hospitals and now nursing homes. I am sure if we look hard we will find that a large percentage of money coming into hospitals is also from Medicare/Medicaid

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Mar 11, 2005

ANA's Capital Update show legislation being introduced in WA, CA and NJ too.

pickledpepperRN · Mar 11, 2005

The lift team bill was passed by both houses and placed on the Governors desk. He vetoed it.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/09/03/BAG4A8J7C21.DTL&type=printable

CALIFORNIA

Nurses push governor to sign 'lift team bill'

- Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer

Friday, September 3, 2004

Mario Gutierrez and Jay Pimentel are two beefy University of California health care workers who spend 12 hours a day lifting heavy patients in and out of bed.

On Thursday, they circled the entrance of UCSF Medical Center with 20 union nurses who carried lightweight cardboard picket signs asking Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign a bill that would, in effect, require all hospitals to hire more people like Gutierrez and Pimentel.

If the governor signed the bill, it would be the first law in the nation to forbid manual lifting of patients. Instead, hospitals would be required to have trained "lift teams" on-call 24 hours a day, who -- like Gutierrez and Pimentel -- would use an array of mini-cranes and specialized beds and chairs to move patients safely.

"We get patients here who weigh up to 600 pounds,'' said Gutierrez.

"Our work here,'' said Pimentel, "is nonstop."

The fate of the so-called "lift team bill" is uncertain. It passed the Legislature last Friday with the support of Kaiser Permanente, the state's largest private hospital operator, but virtually every other hospital in the state opposed it.

The University of California, which runs hospitals at its medical schools, was among those fighting the bill, and that is why the California Nurses Association -- the state's largest union of nurses -- set up the picket lines at six UC hospitals Thursday.

"We have the highest rate of back injuries among professions, and that includes truck drivers,'' said union spokeswoman Liz Jacobs. "The bill is on the governor's desk, and UC is opposing it.''

-----------------------

Bills signed and vetoes by Arnold in 2004:

http://www.consumerfedofca.org/index.fpl/551008.html?article=904&cms_article=904

lee1 · Mar 13, 2005

ANA's Capital Update show legislation being introduced in WA, CA and NJ too.

Do you have a website or link to that info? I could not find it on the NJSNA website.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Mar 13, 2005

ANA's Capital Update -February 28, 2005

ANA Pushes for State Legislation to Protect Nurses
ANA, in cooperation with state nurses associations, is promoting state legislation designed to protect nurses from potentially career-ending musculoskeletal injuries while increasing a patient's safety and comfort. This will be accomplished through enacting legislation that requires health care facilities to develop safe patient handlingprograms and utilize safe patient handlingtechniques and equipment.
read the article

http://www.capitolupdate.org/Newsletter/index.asp?nlid=151&nlaid=529