Greetings Overlake nurses:

Here is the least you need to know:

• L&I/OSHA investigation concludes with two serious violations regarding PPE and barriers. Specifically, N95 or greater protection is the standard for all suspected or confirmed COVID patient care.
• New Nurse Supervisor positions are non-clinical and will not be given charge nurse work, except in emergent situations. Seniority should be the deciding factor of hire.

L&I/DOSH Complaint

After months of asking Overlake for improvements, WSNA nurses filed a complaint regarding COVID PPE standards and safety in September. The Department of Labor and Industry/Division of Occupational Safety and Health (L&I/DOSH) Investigator gave their report out to Overlake leadership and WSNA on 11/23/2021. The Investigator notes two serious violations.

1. 296-842-13005 Did not select and provide appropriate respirators; N95 or greater
2. 296-800-11005 No screens to protect workers. COVID-19 patients not physically isolated.

L&I/DOSH standards for suspected or confirmed COVID patients is N95 level protection or higher for all patient care. This includes triaging in lobbies or other open areas. The physical barriers are needed between any space where people could be less than 6 feet apart e.g., check in desks, break rooms, workstations. Overlake has 10 days from time of citation to correct this, however they can file extensions and appeals on the ruling. Because the citations are labeled serious, they need to correct the problems identified even if appealing. We hope Overlake does not appeal the decision and begins work immediately to meet the 10 day deadline with no or minimal time extension. Please see the Joint Hazard Alert for PPE standards for patient care workers as well as the sanitized version of our original complaint, by following the links in the document bar above.

Nurse Supervisor positions

WSNA has received more than a handful of questions regarding the new nurse supervisor positions. We have asked Overlake for clarification, and this is what we learned.

• The position is a non-clinical, supervisory role
• The position will not be assigned patient care or charge duties except in emergent circumstances.
• Seniority as outlined in 9.1 of the CBA will be honored for hiring. Otherwise the position is not covered by the CBA.

We have not heard anything about what “emergent” means, however the expectation is that this role does not do patient care regularly. Please let our Nurse Rep, Sam Scholl, know if you have heard anything that contradicts this information.

Conclusions

Resources:

• Protect your license, file an ADO: https://www.wsna.org/ado
• Reasons to file an ADO: https://www.wsna.org/union/ado
• If you had MOT, file an L&I complaint: https://secure.lni.wa.gov/wagecomplaint/#/
• If you have patient safety concerns, file a DOH Complaint: https://fortress.wa.gov/doh/providercredentialsearch/ComplaintIntakeForm.aspx
• Please contact our WSNA Nurse Rep Sam Scholl for anything sscholl@wsna.org.
• Please let our WSNA Organizer Zach Seikel know if you want to be more involved zseikel@wsna.org.
• Concerned about staffing? Join the Staffing Committee. Inquire with the above.
• If you are not already, become a member. Our Union at Overlake is as strong as the members make it. https://www.wsna.org/membership/application/union

Your WSNA Officers,

Chris Birchem, Janet Moore-Lane, Cassie Bundick, Kathryn Geren, Natalie Anderson, Emnet Bizuneh, Erin Hurley

And:

Sam Scholl BSN, RN

Nurse Representative

Pronouns: he, they

sscholl@wsna.org

425-606-7036 (cell)