High-tech tracking and alarm devices for employees of a California mental hospital where a worker was strangled can now be worn on a belt-loop clip rather than a lanyard around the neck.
Napa State Hospital officials made the announcement on Thursday, one day after a patient attempted to choke an employee by grabbing the lanyard holding the new alarm.
The Los Angeles Times (lat.ms/N8mi9X) says the employee managed to activate the WiFi-enabled device during the Wednesday night scuffle.
The incident highlighted what employees called a flawed design because the lanyards pose a choking hazard.
A patient strangled 54-year-old psychiatric technician Donna Gross nearly two years ago. The hospital was fined more than $100,000 for safety violations that contributed to Gross' death, including flawed alarm systems.
