The Vermont Department for Children and Families has been fined $14,500 for deficient employee safety measures at its St. Albans Family Services office, according to the Vermont Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The citation issued April 7 states that the department committed a “serious” violation by exposing employees to the potential “hazard of physical assaults by clients that could exhibit violent behavior.”
According to the federal inspection database, officials from Vermont’s workplace safety program inspected the St. Albans office on Oct. 19, 2022, in response to a complaint. The citation said the department needs to reduce employees’ safety risks by providing a lockable office area, a separate bathroom for employees and visitors, and security personnel to keep staff safe from clients.
The citation also states that the department should provide barriers in transport vehicles, have sheriffs transport high-risk clients, and provide mandatory safety training to all employees.
The citation does not make clear whether any specific episodes prompted the complaint. Steve Howard, executive director of the Vermont State Employees’ Association, said staff at the St. Albans office have “found themselves in danger,” but said he couldn’t elaborate.
The state employees union announced the fine in a press release on Thursday. The Vermont Occupational Safety and Health Administration has not responded to a request for a copy of the October inspection report.
Howard said the closure of the Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center in 2020 has led the department to ask staff members to sit with potentially violent youth in settings that are not “appropriate for either their safety, or for the effective treatment of the child in their custody.”
“There’s not been a global solution to the policy decisions that Governor (Phil) Scott made that have led to this chaos,” he said.
He cited other instances of safety issues — like the sexual assault of a social worker in 2021 and the murder of social worker Lara Sobel in 2015 — as examples of how department employees have been harmed.
In an emailed statement, Aryka Radke, deputy commissioner of DCF’s Family Services Division, said the department’s capacity to provide appropriate residential care for high-needs youth has been “compromised” by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“(T)he staff of the division have stepped up in many powerful ways to be there for the vulnerable youth of Vermont,” she said via email.
She wrote that the department was “committed” to working with Vermont Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the state employees’ union, and staff to “ensure staff are safe while in service to this population.”
The department has the right to contest the finding, according to the safety program’s citation. Radke said the department plans to meet with program staff next week to discuss the citation.
Aimee Towne, president of the Vermont State Employees’ Association, said in a press release that union members “have been voicing their concerns about their personal safety and health — and their colleagues’ safety — for years now.”
The citation “is certainly welcome and will hopefully improve protections for Family Services Division employees across the state,” wrote Towne, who is also an employee of the department.
