Hospital Rolls Out Panic-Button Wearables Amid Workplace Violence Concerns
- Beebe Healthcare, a not-for-profit health system in Lewes, Delaware, has partnered with Canopy to deploy Canopy Protect, a wearable safety button that instantly alerts nearby coworkers and security when a frontline caregiver activates it, distributing devices to roughly 1,500 staff members starting in its Emergency Department.
- The rollout began July 28 at Beebe’s Lewes Campus Emergency Department and the program is set to expand across the Lewes Campus, the Abessinio Health Campus (including its Specialty Surgical Hospital and Tunnell Cancer Center), and the South Coastal Health Campus in Millville by the end of fall.
- The initiative comes amid ongoing efforts to address workplace violence against healthcare workers, including 2022 Delaware legislation making assault on a healthcare worker a second-degree felony and newer measures this year allowing staff to temporarily detain individuals who pose a safety risk while awaiting law enforcement.
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MIOSH Pushes Employers on Hazard Reassessment After String of Trench Collapses
- The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration has urged employers and workers to proactively identify hazards, communicate safety concerns and stop work when conditions become unsafe, after reporting 21 workplace fatalities in Michigan so far this year.
- The agency pointed to three trench collapses within a two-day period, including one that killed a worker on July 1, as evidence of the need to continually reassess hazards as job-site conditions change.
- MIOSHA encouraged employers to assess and reassess hazards before and during work, provide task-specific training, maintain clear communication with all workers, supervisors and contractors, and halt work when protections aren’t in place.
- MIOSHA Director Bart Pickelman emphasized that workers have a right to raise safety concerns without retaliation and can file a complaint if hazards go unaddressed, while the agency also promoted its free, confidential Consultation Education and Training Division services, training courses, and safety partnership programs for employers.