Common use of PROTECTION FROM HARM Clause in Contracts

PROTECTION FROM HARM. Abuse, Neglect, and Incident Management 1. Effective immediately, each Facility shall implement policies, procedures and practices that require a commitment that the Facility shall not tolerate abuse or neglect of individuals and that staff are required to report abuse or neglect of individuals. 2. Commencing within six months of the Effective Date hereof and with full implementation within one year, each Facility shall review, revise, as appropriate, and implement incident management policies, procedures and practices. Such policies, procedures and practices shall require: a. Staff to immediately report serious incidents, including but not limited to death, abuse, neglect, exploitation, and serious injury, as follows: 1) for deaths, abuse, neglect, and exploitation to the Facility Superintendent (or that official’s designee) and such other officials and agencies as warranted, consistent with Texas law; and 2) for serious injuries and other serious incidents, to the Facility Superintendent (or that official’s designee). Staff shall report these and all other unusual incidents, using standardized reporting. b. Mechanisms to ensure that, when serious incidents such as allegations of abuse, neglect, exploitation or serious injury occur, Facility staff take immediate and appropriate action to protect the individuals involved, including removing alleged perpetrators, if any, from direct contact with individuals pending either the investigation’s outcome or at least a well- supported, preliminary assessment that the employee poses no risk to individuals or the integrity of the investigation. c. Competency-based training, at least yearly, for all staff on recognizing and reporting potential signs and symptoms of abuse, neglect, and exploitation, and maintaining documentation indicating completion of such training. d. Notification of all staff when commencing employment and at least yearly of their obligation to report abuse, neglect, or exploitation to Facility and State officials. All staff persons who are mandatory reporters of abuse or neglect shall sign a statement that shall be kept at the Facility evidencing their recognition of their reporting obligations. The Facility shall take appropriate personnel action in response to any mandatory reporter’s failure to report abuse or neglect. e. Mechanisms to educate and support individuals, primary correspondent (i.e., a person, identified by the IDT, who has significant and ongoing involvement with an individual who lacks the ability to provide legally adequate consent and who does not have an LAR), and LAR to identify and report unusual incidents, including allegations of abuse, neglect and exploitation. f. Posting in each living unit and day program site a brief and easily understood statement of individuals’ rights, including information about how to exercise such rights and how to report violations of such rights. g. Procedures for referring, as appropriate, allegations of abuse and/or neglect to law enforcement. h. Mechanisms to ensure that any staff person, individual, family member or visitor who in good faith reports an allegation of abuse or neglect is not subject to retaliatory action, including but not limited to reprimands, discipline, harassment, threats or censure, except for appropriate counseling, reprimands or discipline because of an employee’s failure to report an incident in an appropriate or timely manner. i. Audits, at least semi-annually, to determine whether significant resident injuries are reported for investigation. 3. Commencing within six months of the Effective Date hereof and with full implementation within one year, the State shall develop and implement policies and procedures to ensure timely and thorough investigations of all abuse, neglect, exploitation, death, theft, serious injury, and other serious incidents involving Facility residents. Such policies and procedures shall: a. Provide for the conduct of all such investigations. The investigations shall be conducted by qualified investigators who have training in working with people with developmental disabilities, including persons with mental retardation, and who are not within the direct line of supervision of the alleged perpetrator. b. Provide for the cooperation of Facility staff with outside entities that are conducting investigations of abuse, neglect, and exploitation. c. Ensure that investigations are coordinated with any investigations completed by law enforcement agencies so as not to interfere with such investigations. d. Provide for the safeguarding of evidence. e. Require that each investigation of a serious incident commence within 24 hours or sooner, if necessary, of the incident being reported; be completed within 10 calendar days of the incident being reported unless, because of extraordinary circumstances, the Facility Superintendent or Adult Protective Services Supervisor, as applicable, grants a written extension; and result in a written report, including a summary of the investigation, findings and, as appropriate, recommendations for corrective action. f. Require that the contents of the report of the investigation of a serious incident shall be sufficient to provide a clear basis for its conclusion. The report shall set forth explicitly and separately, in a standardized format: each serious incident or allegation of wrongdoing; the name(s) of all witnesses; the name(s) of all alleged victims and perpetrators; the names of all persons interviewed during the investigation; for each person interviewed, an accurate summary of topics discussed, a recording of the witness interview or a summary of questions posed, and a summary of material statements made; all documents reviewed during the investigation; all sources of evidence considered, including previous investigations of serious incidents involving the alleged victim(s) and perpetrator(s) known to the investigating agency; the investigator's findings; and the investigator's reasons for his/her conclusions. g. Require that the written report, together with any other relevant documentation, shall be reviewed by staff supervising investigations to ensure that the investigation is thorough and complete and that the report is accurate, complete and coherent. Any deficiencies or areas of further inquiry in the investigation and/or report shall be addressed promptly. h. Require that each Facility shall also prepare a written report, subject to the provisions of subparagraph g, for each unusual incident. i. Require that whenever disciplinary or programmatic action is necessary to correct the situation and/or prevent recurrence, the Facility shall implement such action promptly and thoroughly, and track and document such actions and the corresponding outcomes. j. Require that records of the results of every investigation shall be maintained in a manner that permits investigators and other appropriate personnel to easily access every investigation involving a particular staff member or individual. 4. Commencing within six months of the Effective Date hereof and with full implementation within one year, each Facility shall have a system to allow the tracking and trending of unusual incidents and investigation results. Trends shall be tracked by the categories of: type of incident; staff alleged to have caused the incident; individuals directly involved; location of incident; date and time of incident; cause(s) of incident; and outcome of investigation. 5. Before permitting a staff person (whether full-time or part-time, temporary or permanent) or a person who volunteers on more than five occasions within one calendar year to work directly with any individual, each Facility shall investigate, or require the investigation of, the staff person’s or volunteer’s criminal history and factors such as a history of perpetrated abuse, neglect or exploitation. Facility staff shall directly supervise volunteers for whom an investigation has not been completed when they are working directly with individuals living at the Facility. The Facility shall ensure that nothing from that investigation indicates that the staff person or volunteer would pose a risk of harm to individuals at the Facility.