The death of a frontline worker led the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry to levy a $27,100 fine for workplace safety violations on the man’s former long-term care employer.
The Sholom Community Alliance, a 154-bed facility in St. Louis Park, MN, was hit with a $25,000 fine for failing to establish and maintain a respiratory protection program. State auditors said that caused or contributed to the death of a caregiver that worked in its memory care unit.
As part of a settlement with the state, the provider was also issued a $2,100 fine for failing to report a workplace-related fatality. The overall penalty is the largest COVID-related fine in state history, the Star Tribune reported.
A resident in the unit where the caregiver was working first tested positive for COVID-19 on April 10, 2020. About 15 days later, the facility supplied an N95 mask to the worker. He tested positive for COVID-19 later that same week.
Sholom did not give the caregiver proper training on the equipment, according to the report. The provider in early March adopted a COVID-19 preparedness plan that included personal protective equipment fit-tests and training.
Sholom CEO Barbara Klick told the news organization that, at that point during the pandemic, “We had an unknown, invisible enemy.”
“We had no way of knowing where it was. And we had little tools to fight it,” she said.
Read more on this story, including an interview with the provider, at McKnight’s Senior Living.
