State fines mental health center after workers assaulted

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – State workplace regulators have fined the Unity Center for Behavioral Health for failing to take steps to prevent future assaults on employees by patients struggling with mental illness.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports the center in Portland was fined $1,650 after the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division (OSHA) found that Unity violated four safety rules and regulations.

Some of those violations are considered “serious.”

Among the alleged lapses, state investigation found that Unity has failed to properly log, document or investigate some of the roughly 300 assaults suffered by employees in the first seven months of operation.

State regulators analyzed assaults at the center from its opening on Jan. 31, 2017, to September 2017, which was the date an anonymous person filed a safety complaint.

A Unity spokesman says staff is reviewing the findings.

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Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com