PRINTER'S NO. 1006
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No.
849
Session of
2023
INTRODUCED BY KANE, HAYWOOD, COLLETT, SANTARSIERO, FONTANA,
BREWSTER, KEARNEY, COMITTA, COSTA, MUTH, CAPPELLETTI, DILLON,
HUGHES, SAVAL, L. WILLIAMS AND FARRY, JULY 6, 2023
REFERRED TO LABOR AND INDUSTRY, JULY 6, 2023
AN ACT
Providing for violence prevention committees in health care
facilities, for duties of committees, for workplace violence
reporting requirements and for powers and duties of the
Department of Labor and Industry; and imposing fines and
administrative penalties.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Short title.
This act shall be known and may be cited as the Health
Facility Employee Violence Prevention Act.
Section 2. Definitions.
The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Committee." The violence prevention committee established
by a health facility under this act.
"Department." The Department of Labor and Industry of the
Commonwealth.
"Employee." An individual who is employed by a health
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facility who is involved in direct patient care or clinical care
services.
"Health facility." A hospital, long-term care nursing
facility or home health care agency as those terms are defined
in section 802.1 of the act of July 19, 1979 (P.L.130, No.48),
known as the Health Care Facilities Act.
"Program." The workplace violence prevention program
established by a committee.
"Workplace violence." Violence or the threat of violence
against an employee.
Section 3. Violence prevention committee.
(a) Establishment.--Each health facility shall establish a
violence prevention committee to establish, review, administer
and provide guidance about a program relating to the prevention
of workplace violence at the health facility.
(b) Membership.--The committee shall be composed as follows:
(1) At least one member or designee of the committee
shall represent management and oversee implementation of the
program. The committee shall be led by two cochairs, one
representing management and one representing the union
employees and nonunion staff in the case of a facility that
has no union representing its staff.
(2) At least 50% of the members of the committee shall
be nonmanagerial staff primarily engaged in direct patient
care. The committee shall have a proportional representation
of union members, selected by their union and nonunion
members, elected by secret ballot by their peers. The
proportional representation shall incorporate all employees
at risk of becoming a victim of workplace violence and shall
include representation from all main areas of the hospital
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that may be subject to workplace violence.
(3) The remaining members of the committee shall be
selected by management and shall have experience, expertise
or responsibility relevant to violence prevention or other
expertise that is considered beneficial to the committee.
Section 4. Duties of committee.
(a) Risk assessment evaluation.--Each committee shall
perform an initial risk assessment based on an analysis of
incidents of the prior five years and then annually thereafter,
as well as an evaluation of the factors that may put an employee
at risk of workplace violence. Those factors shall include, but
not be limited to:
(1) Working in a public setting.
(2) Guarding or maintaining property or possessions.
(3) Working in a high-crime area.
(4) Working late at night or early in the morning.
(5) Using commuter lots that are not adequately lit or
frequently patrolled.
(6) The existence of uncontrolled public access to the
workplace.
(7) Working in a public area with individuals in crisis.
(8) Working in an area where a patient or resident may
exhibit violent behavior or where there has been a pattern of
violent behavior.
(9) Working in a unit that does not have adequate
staffing levels.
(10) The existence or availability of a security
response team that is able to rapidly and effectively respond
to incidents of workplace violence.
(11) Adequate training of staff to deal with incidents
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of workplace violence.
(12) The physical layout of the facility.
(b) Review.--Each committee shall meet quarterly to review
all incidents of workplace violence, to review compliance with
the program and the effectiveness of the program, to initiate
changes to the program where necessary and to perform any other
duties required under this act. The committee shall report
annually the results of the reviews to the department together
with any changes to the program adopted by the committee. If no
changes are adopted in response to the review, the committee
shall report that fact to the department.
(c) Preparation of report and establishment of program.--
Each committee shall:
(1) Prepare a report from the risk assessment evaluation
and establish a written violence prevention program to
mitigate risks based on the assessment. If there is more than
one health facility within a system, there shall be a program
established for each health facility. The program shall be
updated annually.
(2) Develop and maintain a detailed, written violence
prevention plan that:
(i) identifies and tracks incidents of workplace
violence at the facility;
(ii) identifies workplace risks;
(iii) establishes a system to identify and flag
individuals with a history of violence; and
(iv) provides specific methods to address workplace
risks.
(3) Distribute the violence prevention plan and risk
assessment report to all employees.
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(4) Make the risk assessment report available to the
public.
(5) Establish a method to expedite reporting and review
of a report of workplace violence and make written
recommendations to the health facility management on
preventing additional incidents of similar workplace
violence.
(6) Promptly after adopting a violence prevention plan,
file a copy of the plan with the department.
(d) Employee training.--The committee shall provide
appropriate employee training to employees at the time of hire
and annually thereafter.
Section 5. Reporting of workplace violence.
(a) Reporting.--An employee who reasonably believes that an
incident of workplace violence has occurred shall report the
occurrence of the incident in accordance with the violence
prevention plan of the health facility unless the employee knows
a report has already been made. The report shall be made
immediately or as soon thereafter as reasonably practicable, but
no later than 24 hours after the occurrence or discovery of the
incident.
(b) Local law enforcement reporting.--Acts of workplace
violence or threats of workplace violence against any on-duty
health facility personnel shall be reported to the local law
enforcement agency within 24 hours. It shall be considered a
violation of this act to interfere with, discourage or obstruct
such reporting.
(c) Liability.--An employee who reports the occurrence of an
incident of workplace violence under subsection (a) may not be
subject to retaliatory action for reporting the incident as
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specified in the act of December 12, 1986 (P.L.1559, No.169),
known as the Whistleblower Law.
Section 6. Distribution of reports of workplace violence.
A report of an incident of workplace violence that is
submitted to management or to the health facility shall be
provided to the committee within 72 hours of the submission of
the report.
Section 7. Penalties.
(a) Administrative fine.--The department may levy an
administrative fine on a health facility that violates this act
or any regulation adopted under this act. The fine shall be not
less than $1,000 for each violation. The department may increase
fines for repeated violations.
(b) Administrative order.--The department may order a health
facility to take an action that the department deems necessary
to correct a violation of this act.
(c) Administrative agency law.--This section is subject to 2
Pa.C.S. Chs. 5 Subch. A (relating to practice and procedure of
Commonwealth agencies) and 7 Subch. A (relating to judicial
review of Commonwealth agency action).
Section 8. Remedies.
(a) General rule.--If a health facility has engaged in
conduct that causes or maintains a substantial risk of further
workplace violence, including failing to implement the
recommendations of a committee, a court may enjoin the health
facility from engaging in the illegal activities and may order
any other relief that is appropriate, including, but not limited
to:
(1) reinstatement of an employee;
(2) removal of the offending party from the employee's
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work environment;
(3) reimbursement for lost wages;
(4) medical expenses;
(5) compensation for emotional distress; and
(6) attorney fees.
(b) Appeals to department.--
(1) If a committee concludes that a health facility is
not acting in good faith in implementing the recommendations
of the committee, the committee, by vote of a majority of the
members, may appeal the health facility's decision to the
department.
(2) If, after a hearing, the department determines that
the health facility is acting in bad faith and failing to
implement safety recommendations suggested by the committee,
the department may impose penalties against the health
facility, including appropriate fines and administrative
penalties.
(3) Additionally, any individual has the ability to file
a complaint with the department for a violation of this act.
(4) If an activity, policy or practice has been reported
to management and, after reasonable opportunity for
correction, the problem has not been corrected or resolved
and an employee or a representative of the employee still
believes that a violation of the workplace violence
prevention program remains or that substantial risk of
workplace violence exists, such employee or representative of
the employees may request an inspection by giving notice to
the department of such a violation or risk. Such notice and
request shall be in writing, shall set forth with reasonable
particularity the grounds for the notice and shall be signed
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by the employee or representative of employees. A copy of
such notice shall be provided to the employer, except that on
the request of the person giving notice, such person's name
shall be withheld. If the department finds such a complaint
to be credible, an inspection shall be made by the
department.
(5) A representative of the employer and employees shall
be given the opportunity to accompany the department
representative during the inspection.
Section 9. Effect on collective bargaining agreements.
This act may not be construed to:
(1) Supersede a current provision of an employee's
existing collective bargaining agreement which provides
greater rights and protection than prescribed by this act.
(2) Prevent any new provisions of a collective
bargaining agreement which provides greater rights and
protections from being implemented and applicable to an
employee.
Section 10. Rules and regulations.
The department shall adopt rules and regulations necessary to
implement this act. The rules and regulations shall include
guidelines the department deems appropriate regarding workplace
violence prevention programs required under this act and related
to reporting and monitoring systems and employee training.
Section 11. Effective date.
This act shall take effect in 90 days.
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