California workplace regulators fined the Regents of the University of California-San Francisco $142,000 for a number of safety failures found after the fatal stabbing of a 51-year-old social worker in December at San Francisco General Hospital.
Following an investigation by Cal/OSHA, state regulators accused UCSF of not having an effective workplace violence-prevention plan. The Department of Public Health owns the hospital and employs most of its nurses, while UCSF employs the doctors and many of the social workers that work at the facility and affiliated clinics.
A 38-page report produced by Cal/OSHA included eight citations, seven of which were considered “serious,” meaning the violation was grave enough that there was a realistic possibility that death or serious physical harm could result from the cause of the violation. Inspectors found that UCSF failed to immediately report Rangel’s stabbing to Cal/OSHA, failed to properly maintain violence incident logs and failed to keep accurate records of workplace safety inspection records…