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Lakeland Health Security Officers to Begin Carrying Tasers
Jan 3, 2017

As the trend in physical assaults at hospitals rises throughout the country, Lakeland Health security officers in St. Joseph and Niles will be implementing the use of Tasers beginning March 2017.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 48 percent of all non-fatal injuries from occupational assaults and violent acts have occurred in a health care setting. Many hospitals are exploring the option of issuing Conducted Electrical Weapons (CEWs), referred to as Tasers, as a less-lethal option in reversing this trend. As of July 1, 2016, physical assaults throughout Lakeland had increased by 24 percent compared to 2015.

“As we’ve seen recently in the media, people are becoming a lot bolder in targeting police officers,” said Rich Matthews, Director of Safety, Security, and Emergency Preparedness. “Tasers are just one way to protect our team members, patients, and security officers against assaults. Very few hospitals have had to use them—just the presence of carrying a Taser as a non-lethal option, has been shown to decrease the amount of physical assaults.”

According to a recent study by the International Association of Healthcare Security and Safety, hospitals that have implemented CEWs for security personnel have a 41 percent lower risk of physical assaults compared to those without CEWs.

Under the guidelines of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, every deployment of a CEW must be treated as a law enforcement action—one that would justify arrest by a law enforcement agency. All Lakeland security officers will be required to complete the same training as their law enforcement partners and will be conducted by Taser International in conjunction with area law enforcement agencies by early February 2017.

“Today’s security is very different than it was 10 or 20 years ago,” said Matthews. “We must have the ability to rapidly adjust to the changing security needs of the healthcare industry. With the implementation of Tasers, we also hope to increase the comfort level and create a sense of heightened security experienced by team members. This increased comfort level helps a team member’s physical and mental wellbeing placing them at ease, and encouraging them to feel safe and confident that security officers have an effective, less-lethal option available to combat physical assaults.” 

Update:
Congratulations to our first group of security officers who were recently awarded Taser Certification by the Taser Training Academy.