Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Hospitals have become one of the most hazardous workplaces; since the year 2000, injury rates in hospitals have surpassed injury rates in construction or manufacturing, settings traditionally thought to be among the most unsafe for workers. Nurses and other healthcare professionals become injured from repeated movements associated with patient care activities such as lifting, transferring, and repositioning patients. In response to rising injury rates among nurses, 11 states enacted Safe Patient Handling and Mobility (SPHM) laws that are intended to reduce nurse injuries from lifting or moving patients. The SPHM campaign was begun by the American Nurses Association and contained several recommended provisions, including offering loans or tax credits to hospitals or nursing homes for the purchase of lifting equipment; mandating that all new hospital or nursing facility construction to include lifting equipment; or requiring nursing staff in hospitals or nursing homes to have protocols in place to reduce the risk of injury. Each state SPHM policy incorporates a slightly different set of these recommended components.

In this paper, we examine the impact of state adoption of any SPHM law on workplace injuries and Workers’ Compensation (WC) receipt. We examine workplace injuries reported to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and WC cash benefit receipt reported in the Current Population Survey (CPS). Preliminary results from the 2000 through 2015 CPS show that among states that adopted SPHM policies by 2015, nurses who work in hospitals or nursing homes are 0.7 percentage points less likely to claim WC cash benefits than nurses employed in physician offices or other unaffected settings. Given that 1.1 percent of all nurses claimed WC cash benefits in the pre period, this is a reduction of nearly two thirds. Some state SPHM policies also include funds for employers to purchase and install lifting equipment. Preliminary work shows that financial incentives such as these lead to even larger declines in WC receipt. These findings point to new evidence that SPHM policies play an important role in reducing workplace injuries among nursing staff.