Nurses call for urgent changes

Today CommonSpirit Health has been named to the “Dirty Dozen 2026” list by the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (NCOSH), a national organization dedicated to strengthening workplace health and safety. The annual list from NCOSH names 12 companies whose disturbing disregard for safety includes repeated and serious violations of workplace safety laws and a history of ignoring known hazards.

CommonSpirit registered nurses represented by National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU) call for urgent changes at the Catholic hospital chain after its inclusion on NCOSH’s annual and infamous list. Among nurses' most pressing concerns are unsafe staffing, workplace violence, and aggressive anti-union tactics that undermine patient care and worker safety.

Nurses say CommonSpirit Health is betraying its mission of “improving the health of the people we serve, especially those who are vulnerable,” by refusing to address nurses’ concerns and prioritizing profits before patients. The nonprofit health system reported more than $1 billion in profits in 2025 and paid its former and current CEOs a combined $36.6 million in 2024.

“It is devastating that CommonSpirit is on the Dirty Dozen list, but it confirms what we are seeing at our St. Joseph Health hospitals in Brazos Valley, Texas," said Evan Epps, RN in the critical care unit at St. Joseph Health College Hospital in College Station. “Security is inadequate and puts our patients and our nurses at risk. We also have ongoing fruit fly and fly infestations. This is unsanitary and completely unacceptable.”

Nurses from California to Texas have raised their concerns about workplace violence at CommonSpirit facilities. In addition, OSHA records show a pattern of safety failures at CommonSpirit-affiliated facilities, including dozens of confirmed violations in California and Nevada for a lack of respiratory protection, formaldehyde exposure hazards at a Houston hospital, and failures to protect workers from chemical and other hazards in Seattle.

In December 2025, nurses voted to join NNOC in response to troubling conditions at CommonSpirit hospitals in Texas, including five St. Joseph Health facilities in Brazos Valley: St. Joseph Health Regional Hospital in Bryan and St. Joseph Health College Station Hospital in College Station and three critical access facilities — St. Joseph Health Burleson Hospital in Caldwell, St. Joseph Health Grimes Hospital in Navasota, and St. Joseph Health Madison Hospital in Madisonville. The nurses just began bargaining for their first contract.

National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide. NNU affiliates include California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.