Matt Brennan
Ceist:35 Mr. M. Brennan asked the Minister for Health if there has been a rise in the number of violent attacks on hospital staff and health workers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7019/95]
Written Answers. - Attacks on Hospital Staff.
Limerick East): While health service staff are as susceptible to violent attack as other members of the community in the normal course of their working lives, there are no statistics readily available which would suggest that there has been a rise in the incidence of such attacks.
Under the Health, Safety and Welfare at Work Act, 1989 there is an onus on employers to identify hazards and to put in place appropriate preventative and remedial measures. This applies to the risk of physical attack as well as to other risk factors and employing agencies are encouraged to take all reasonable precautions to reduce risk to staff safety. Specific initiatives taken in this regard have included: the publication of a guidelines document on Violence at Work by the Health and Safety Authority which has been circulated to all health agencies by the Department; the allocation of earmarked funding for health and safety at work in 1994 and 1995; agreement with the health boards to take specific steps to address the situation in relation to the psychiatric service; agreement between management and staff regarding a scheme to cater for psychiatric nurses absent from work due to serious physical assault and the agreed extension of this scheme to cover public health, general, mental handicap and paediatric nurses employed in health agencies together with a similar scheme for non-nursing grades.