Senate Bill Would Require Health Care Employers to Create Workplace Violence Prevention Plans

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Introduced in Senate

Labor Department issues an interim workplace violence prevention standard

Covered health care and social service employers get the first set of required rules (plans, training, logs, investigations). A compliance help-first period can follow, for up to 1 year.

Interim standard takes effect (with possible extra time for some building/equipment changes)

Employers must start following the rule quickly—no later than 30 days after it is issued—though things like installing certain engineering controls could be phased in.

Employers must have a written workplace violence prevention plan in place

Workers should see clear steps for reporting threats, getting help, and how the workplace will fix risks like poor lighting, lack of barriers, or unsafe entry procedures.

Labor Department provides a template for the required violent incident log

Facilities track incidents in a more consistent way, including type of perpetrator, injuries, and how the incident was stopped, which can push real fixes.

Medicare participation requirement starts for certain hospitals and skilled nursing facilities

Some facilities that weren’t otherwise under workplace safety rules would still have to follow the violence-prevention standard to keep receiving Medicare funds.

Labor Department proposes a permanent (final) version of the standard

The rule could be updated based on comments and evidence, but it must include at least what the interim standard required.

Labor Department issues a final workplace violence prevention standard

The long-term rule replaces the interim standard and must provide strong protections, at least as protective as approved state workplace safety plans, if feasible.