In this section:

Texas Health is committed to protecting our people from harm so that they can care for people in need.

Safety

We proactively mitigate potential risks, from infections and needle sticks to trip hazards and patient lifting strains. Key strategies include:

  • Developing and implementing systemwide policies, procedures, tools and other controls to provide consistent and reliable safety practices. These range from automated patient lifting equipment to infection control processes, personal protective equipment and more.
  • Deploying a rigorous health and safety management system that helps us identify and control hazards and risks, comply with applicable health and safety laws and regulations, investigate incidents, and track actions through closure.
  • Providing extensive training to recognize, address and report hazards.
  • Appointing committees and teams to monitor and address safety risks.
  • Conducting risk assessments with our workers' compensation insurance provider to evaluate and optimize practices, such as ergonomics and industrial hygiene.

To determine the frequency, severity and cost of injuries, we require employees to report concerns, injuries, errors and near-misses in an online tracking system. This helps us identify patterns, perform root cause analysis and take appropriate corrective actions, which are communicated across the system.

The more we know, the safer we can be. We aim to continually improve performance and keep safety rates below the industry average.

2023 Highlights

Texas Health:

  • Kept incident and lost time rates below industry averages.
  • Added new ways for employees to report safety issues, naturally leading to increased reported events. We increased our year-over-year Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) incident rate by 13%, lost-time injury rate by 38% and incidents' overall severity by 3%. We reduced work-related COVID-19 exposures by 42%. Find additional safety data in Performance Data.

Violence Prevention

Rising threats and violence continue to present a significant challenge for Texas Health and health systems across the nation. This trend jeopardizes the well-being of caregivers, disrupts care delivery, impedes employee retention and requires significant security investments to keep our people and assets safe.

We are implementing a multi-faceted security strategy to protect our people and campuses. This entails:

  • Enforcing our Workplace Violence Prevention and Intervention Program, which equips employees with policies, training, tools and resources that empower them to respond to and alert others about hostile individuals.
  • Deploying threat management teams and security personnel to assess potential risks. Security officers patrol campuses, enforce policies, assist care team members and address potential threats. They receive specialized training that meets state regulations and licensing requirements.
  • Conducting active shooter training, drills and tabletop exercises to prepare system leaders and employees for potential events.
  • Fortifying facilities with locks, cameras, weapon detection systems, alerts, alarms and other security assets.
  • Engaging state and federal policymakers to develop bipartisan measures to strengthen protections and deter violence.

In addition to physical protection measures, we provide mental health resources and support to employees who experience distressing events, including access to counseling, chaplains, chapels and Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) interventions. CISM is a structured crisis management process that enables impacted individuals to share their experiences, vent their emotions, learn about delayed stress reactions and access support to reduce psychological harm.

2023 Highlights

Texas Health:

  • Continued delivering on its commitment to keep staff, patients and visitors safe by investing $30 million in security protections. We fortified campuses with additional security measures , police officers and alerts that flag individuals with a history of previous aggression. 
  • Increased education and training about ways to de-escalate volatile situations.
  • Responded to 49 CISM events, where EAP clinicians supported the mental health needs of 590 employees.
  • Successfully advocated for state lawmakers to pass stronger measures that protect employees from threats and violence.