A Florida mental health facility shows ‘a reluctance to protect’ workers, OSHA says
OSHA has proposed a $101,397 fine for a Melbourne, Florida, mental health facility company for what it counted as the third known patient attack on an employee since 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor reported.
The citation and notification of penalty with the proposed fine for Circles of Care, 400 E. Sheridan Rd., was posted in May, six months after what Labor described as a patient using “a metal hole punch to strike a mental health technician at a nurse’s workstation in the head, face, hands and arms.”
The technician was hospitalized and Circles of Care also was cited for not reporting that within 24 hours. Another worker got a cut hand while helping with the patient.
After a June 1, 2022, incident at another Circles of Care’s facility just over a mile away, the company informally settled a $14,502 fine down to $7,000. Circles wasn’t fined when OSHA investigated a former patient ending a conversation with an employee leaving work by shooting the employee dead in December 2020.
“Circles of Care’s reluctance to protect its employees from the recognized danger of patient assault is shocking,” OSHA Area Office Director Erin Sanchez said. “These attacks often occur suddenly and swiftly, causing serious and, as we’ve seen, fatal harm to workers and leaving their co-workers traumatized.”
Miami Herald phone calls and emails to Circles of Care were not answered.
Online records say a March 5 incident has prompted another safety investigation by the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Workplace safety complaints can be filed to the OSHA online, by calling 800-321-6742 (OSHA), faxing or emailing your local OSHA office or showing up at your local OSHA office.
This story was originally published June 5, 2024 at 12:34 PM.
