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OSHA trumps HIPAA in a workplace violence investigation complaint
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October 1, 2007
At first blush, the details of an OSHA case from Bergen Regional Medical Center in Paramus, NJ-settled earlier this year-seem to put safety managers in a heck of a pinch. Below are the events as they happened in fall 2006:
1. An employee filed a workplace violence incident report with a union, naming a patient as an assailant and using an OSHA-recommended form to file the complaint.
2. The action of naming the assailant, the hospital decided, violated the facility's Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) policy. The policy mandated a three-day suspension for the employee without pay.
3. The suspension constituted a violation of OSHA whistleblower rules that prevent employer retaliation, causing the Department of Labor-which OSHA falls under-to open an investigation.
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