Senate considers FBI checks for healthcare housekeepers

Proposed legislation would require FBI criminal background checks on cleaners who work in nursing homes and long-term-care facilities.

Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) of the U.S. Senate’s Special Committee on Aging proposed the “Elder Justice” bill.

Research by the committee spotlighted many gaps nationwide in criminal-background checks on nursing-home employees and outside contractors who don’t have patient-care responsibilities, such as janitors or laundry and food-service workers.

The bill would require criminal background checks on all employees and contractors of federally funded long-term care providers. Although some states already require employees to run checks, the FBI check would prevent workers from state-hopping — committing a crime in one state then moving to another to work.

The legislation also would provide federal grants, loans and tax breaks for industry efforts to reduce staff turnover, provide career training and promotions, and improve wages and benefits for long-term-care workers.

Organizations that represent most of the nation’s long-term-care facilities said they would not oppose more federal regulation and specifically support criminal background checks, according to the Special Committee on Aging. The organizations also said, however, they would like facilities to be reimbursed for any expenses.

A spokesperson from Sen. Breaux’s office says the required checks would be funded through grants from each state, the U.S. Health and Human Services department and committees formed by the Aging Committee.

The bill was sent to legislative council at the end of May and is estimated to take up to two months before there will be a vote.



OSHA Update

The following are new moves and services from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA):

  • OSHA and the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) are working together to encourage safe and healthy workplaces. The alliance includes exchanging technical information and best practices, promoting OSHA outreach services and developing a tool to demonstrate the cost benefits and business value of safety and health. OSHA will assist RIMS with conference workshops, and RIMS chapters will work with OSHA staff on a variety of projects.

  • A free consultation service from OSHA allows employers to determine potential hazards in their workplaces, improve their safety management systems, and possibly qualify for a one-year exemption from routine OSHA inspections.

  • A new Spanish language publication from OSHA — Todo Sobre La OSHA, or All About OSHA — is designed to help Spanish-speaking employees understand more about safety and health in the workplace. The publication is a translation of a 61-page booklet that covers job safety, employers’ duties and workers’ rights, and offers information on how to make workplaces safer. The new manual is part of OSHA’s outreach to Spanish-speaking workers — including a new Spanish-language Web Site, new data collection efforts to track non-English-speaking employees and employers, and Spanish-language options for OSHA’s 800 number (800) 321-OSHA.





    POSTED ON: 6/1/2002