Johns Hopkins Hospital named to “2019 Dirty Dozen” list

Citing a “consistent disregard for safety principles,” the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health has named Johns Hopkins Hospital to the “2019 Dirty Dozen List of Employers Who Put Workers and Communities at Risk.”The list is published each year to mark Workers’ Memorial Week, observed around the world, honoring those who have been injured, suffered illnesses or lost their lives at work. “We hope Johns Hopkins takes landing a spot on the Dirty Dozen list this year as a wake up call to listen to nurses and address the conditions we flag as unsafe for patients and healthcare workers,” said Alex Laslett, RN, a member of National Nurses United. “We want Hopkins to operate the hospital in a manner that supports quality patient care. We’ve called on the hospital to rectify chronic short staffing and high turnover, discontinue dangerous rotating shift schedules, implement safe patient handling, provide protective gear and adequate equipment and take proactive steps to prevent workplace violence.” Registered nurses at Hopkins began organizing a union at the hospital after repeated appeals to the hospital to resolve unsafe conditions went unanswered, but management has responded by spending millions of dollars on anti-union consultants.

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