Workplace safety regulators have cited the Oregon State Hospital over failures to follow up on outbreaks of violence against staff.

The investigation conducted by Oregon OSHA, the state’s workplace safety agency, focused on assaults on staff members by patients at the state-run psychiatric facility.

Oregon OSHA has not released the investigation or detailed the incidents that led to the investigation. And a spokesperson for the agency declined to comment.

But hospital officials acknowledged the facility had been cited for failures to adequately document, thoroughly investigate and respond to assaults on staff members. The state workplace safety agency also warned the hospital to correct three other issues in those areas, hospital officials said, which could become violations if they’re not addressed.

Amber Shoebridge, a state hospital spokesperson, said hospital officials also have not seen investigators’ written report and don’t expect to for several weeks.

She said the investigation started on April 27, after someone made an anonymous complaint to Oregon OSHA. Shoebridge also said the hospital would have to pay a fine for the violations, but said she did not immediately know how much the fine would be.

While details were scarce, the news prompted a statement from retiring Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney, who called the violations “disheartening,” and said he would do whatever he could to help the situation.

“In 2013, we built a brand new, state-of-the-art hospital to help people with mental illness. We’ve been pouring money into staffing since then,” Courtney said in the statement. Obviously, we haven’t figured it out. We need to be able to provide treatment while keeping staff and patients safe.”

Violent incidents at the hospital are well-documented in news reports, though. Hospital employees have described dangerous working conditions exacerbated by — and contributing to — the hospital’s short staffing.

According to data released by the state hospital in June, the average number of assaults has steadily increased since 2019. The hospital recorded an average of 10.5 assaults per month in 2019, and that number has crept up each year. As of April 2022, the hospital was averaging 16.25 assaults per month. That includes assaults on both staff and patients.

Patrick Allen, the director of the hospital’s supervising agency, the Oregon Health Authority, said assaults on staff members who are caring for patients are “not acceptable.”

“We appreciate what the Oregon OSHA violations bring to light,” he said in a statement, adding, “we will continue to partner with our hospital staff to find additional ways to prevent workplace violence.”

Hospital Superintendent Dolly Matteucci did not address the specifics of the investigation but said in a statement that the hospital prioritizes the safety of both staff and patients.

“Our staff deserve to come to work each day without the fear of being hurt,” she said. “We know we have more work to do, and we know more thorough investigation of incidents will help us learn from what happened and prevent future occurrences.”

The hospital attributed the increase in assaults in part to an influx of “aid-and-assist” patients, who have been charged with crimes but found by a judge unable to aid their own defense. Those patients are sent to the state hospital for treatment.

According to a statement from the state hospital, efforts already underway to address the issues include hiring a workplace prevention consultant and creating a risk-assessment checklist that staff can use to identify patients that are at high risk of aggressive behavior.