The D.C. Circuit threw out a psychiatric hospital’s claims that OSHA didn’t offer adequate guidance on improving safety at the facility when it cited the hospital after an increase in patient attacks against workers.
The Tuesday decision could give the Occupational Safety and Health Administration greater leeway to cite health-care providers under the general duty clause of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. The law sets a general requirement for workplaces to be free of known hazards that could lead to death or serious injury and can be feasibly prevented with OSHA-recommended abatements.
In this case, the hazards ...