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Seyfarth Synopsis: New York requires hospitals and nursing home employers to implement written workplace violence prevention plans, including hazard assessments, training, and incident logging within the year.
Health care employers have long faced liabilities relating to workplace violence, most commonly from patients and visitors. Although no federal OSHA standards currently provide requirements for workplace violence in health care (though regulations are in development), federal OSHA aggressively regulates workplace violence hazards under its General Duty Clause, creating liability for health care employers who fail to proactively address hazards of workplace violence. OSHA provides a range of non-mandatory guidance on workplace violence prevention, but some states have begun issuing their own laws to specify requirements for safety programs and security personnel in health care, including onerous logging and notification requirements. California OSHA issued a workplace violence prevention standard applicable to health care in 2018. Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington have enacted other requirements. Other states have pending requirements, including Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
New York State has followed suit and has mandated new workplace violence compliance standards. Governor Hochul recently signed Senate Bill S5294A into law, requiring hospitals and nursing homes to implement comprehensive workplace violence prevention plans (WPVPP).
Workplace Violence Prevention Plan Requirements
The new law applies to general hospitals and nursing homes regulated under New York's Public Health Law. Employers must implement written WPVPPs. Hospitals and nursing homes must integrate WPVPPs into existing safety and accreditation frameworks. The WPVPP must include an initial and then a yearly hazard assessment to identify workplace violence threats and hazards. The assessment requirement is a performance standard, meaning that employers will need to employ qualified persons to conduct comprehensive workplace violence hazards assessments (though the annual reassessment could be more circumscribed). The employer then must then use their expertise with their facilities and industry knowledge to customize and update the WPVPP, as well as implement enhanced safety controls to address the hazards observed. The assessment should inform the employer of appropriate security measures and engineering controls required by the Act (e.g., barriers, alarms, communication systems).
The WPVPP must include employee training to identify, prevent, and mitigate workplace violence. This will include de-escalation training for disruptive patients and visitors. Emergency rooms are required to have security personnel onsite, with specific requirements for off-duty law enforcement or specially trained security staff. Smaller hospitals face less stringent security staffing standards, with exemptions for rural and critical access hospitals.
The law finally requires employers to maintain incident logs and share data with safety committees and employee representatives.
Employer Action Plan
The law takes effect 280 days after enactment, giving facilities less than a year to establish programs. Likely reflecting the political impetus for this statute, the law mandates robust employee participation in the WPVPP:union representatives must be included in its development and implementation. Compliance, including the detailed hazard assessments, will require significant resources. Facilities may need to budget for enhanced security personnel, training, and infrastructure improvements.
Takeaway
This legislation underscores New York's growing focus on workplace violence prevention expanding into healthcare. Hospitals and nursing homes should act quickly to align policies, staffing, and training with the new mandates.
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