Health and social workers are victims of 75% of workplace violence, according to OSHA

Antigone Barton, Palm Beach Post
Updated ·2 min read

The horror a South Florida therapist endured for the 2022 night her client held her captive was just one of scores of deadly threats faced yearly by home health and social workers across the nation.

That year also, visiting nurse Douglas Brant was shot to death by his patient’s grandson while providing care in their Spokane, Washington, home. The following year, visiting nurse Joyce Grayson was found strangled in the basement of a Willimantic, Connecticut, halfway house for sexual offenders where she had come to administer medicine.

The therapist trapped in client Tzvi Allswang's suburban Boca Raton home survived her ordeal, but was sexually tortured by the convicted rapist for hours, while deputies ignored the danger she was in. Allswang has since pleaded guilty to all charges against him in connection with the 2022 attack, including attempted murder.

The risks these health and social service providers faced are part of a larger pattern that has made work in facilities as well as in the field among the most dangerous of all occupations.

Violence to workers underreported

Out of 23,000 workplace assaults, between 2011 and 2013, 75% occurred in health and social service settings, OSHA — the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration — found. A 2016 American Federation of Government employees survey found that rate is likely an underestimate, with high numbers of assaults going unreported.

Health and social service workers providing services were five times as likely to suffer a serious workplace-violence injury than workers in other sectors, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found in 2018.

The knife Tzvi Allswang held to the throat of his therapist on the floor of the closet where deputies found them and shot Allswang in the head.
The knife Tzvi Allswang held to the throat of his therapist on the floor of the closet where deputies found them and shot Allswang in the head.

Dangers to health workers go unaddressed

The threats to those workers, however, while inherent and apparent, have gone unaddressed by both employers and policymakers, according to professional organizations that are pushing once again this year for requirements that could improve health and social-service worker safety.

The Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act, introduced in April 2023, would require employers in health care and social-service fields to assess threats to their workers and develop violence-prevention plans. Such plans could include protocols in some cases that would keep workers from going to homes unaccompanied.

Black plastic tablecloth over the door at the suburban Boca Raton home of Tzvi Aswang where he raped and tortured his therapist in 2022.
Black plastic tablecloth over the door at the suburban Boca Raton home of Tzvi Aswang where he raped and tortured his therapist in 2022.

U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney of Connecticut, who introduced similar legislation that did not pass during the last congressional session, cited the murder of Grayson, whose district he serves, as he introduced a new version of the bill.

The safety of workers who care for people in their homes crosses political lines, he said.

“We rely on them,” he said. “It’s time for us to care for them. It’s time for us to listen to them.”

Antigone Barton is a reporter with The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at avbarton@gannett.com. Help support our work: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Therapists, health, social service workers face threats from clients