BILL NUMBER: SB 718	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Yee

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2013

   An act to add Section 6401.8 to the Labor Code, relating to
employment safety.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 718, as introduced, Yee. Hospitals: workplace violence
prevention plan.
   Existing law regulates the operation of health facilities,
including hospitals.
   Existing law, the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of
1973, imposes safety responsibilities on employers and employees,
including the requirement that an employer establish, implement, and
maintain an effective injury prevention program, and makes specified
violation of these provisions a crime.
   This bill would require a hospital, as specified, as a part of its
injury prevention program and in conjunction with affected
employees, to adopt a workplace violence prevention plan designed to
protect health care workers, other facility personnel, patients, and
visitors from aggressive or violent behavior. As part of that plan,
the bill would require a hospital to adopt safety and security
policies, including, among others, a system for the reporting to the
Division of Occupational Safety and Health of any incident of
assault, as defined, or battery, as defined, against a hospital
employee or patient, as specified. The bill would further require all
medical staff and health care workers who provide direct care to
patients to receive, at least annually, workplace violence prevention
education and training, as specified. The bill would prohibit a
hospital from preventing an employee from, or taking punitive or
retaliatory action against an employee for, seeking assistance and
intervention from local emergency services or law enforcement for a
violent incident. The bill would also require a hospital to provide
evaluation and treatment, as specified, for an employee who is
injured or is otherwise a victim of a violent incident.
   The bill would require a hospital to report to the division any
incident of assault, as defined, or battery, as defined, against a
hospital employee or patient, as specified, and would authorize the
division to assess a civil penalty against a hospital for failure to
report an incident, as specified. The bill would further require the
division to report to the relevant fiscal and policy committees of
the Legislature information regarding incidents of violence at
hospitals, as specified.
   Because this bill would expand the scope of a crime, the bill
would impose a state-mandated local program.
   The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
   This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 6401.8 is added to the Labor Code, to read:
   6401.8.  (a) As a part of its injury prevention program required
pursuant to Section 6401.7, a hospital licensed pursuant to
subdivisions (a), (b), or (f) of Section 1250 of the Health and
Safety Code shall adopt a workplace violence prevention plan designed
to protect health care workers, other facility personnel, patients,
and visitors from aggressive or violent behavior. The plan shall
include, but not be limited to, security considerations relating to
all of the following:
   (1) Physical layout.
   (2) Staffing, including staffing patterns and patient
classification systems that contribute to the risk of violence or are
insufficient to address the risk of violence.
   (3) The adequacy of facility security systems, protocols, and
policies, including, but not limited to, security personnel
availability.
   (4) Potential security risks associated with specific units or
areas within the facility where there is a greater likelihood that a
patient or other person may exhibit violent behavior.
   (5) Uncontrolled public access to any part of the facility.
   (6) Potential security risks related to working late-night or
early morning hours.
   (7) Employee security in areas surrounding the facility,
including, but not limited to, employee parking areas.
   (8) The use of a trained response team that can assist employees
in violent situations.
   (9) Policy and training related to appropriate responses to
violent acts.
   (10) Efforts to cooperate with local law enforcement regarding
violent acts in the facility.
   (b) As part of its workplace violence prevention plan, a hospital
shall adopt safety and security policies, including, but not limited
to, all of the following:
   (1) Personnel training policies designed to protect personnel,
patients, and visitors from aggressive or violent behavior, including
education on how to recognize the potential for violence, how and
when to seek assistance to prevent or respond to violence, and how to
report incidents of violence to the appropriate law enforcement
officials.
   (2) A system for responding to incidents and situations involving
violence or the risk of violence, including, but not limited to,
procedures for rapid response by which an employee is provided with
immediate assistance if the threat of violence against that employee
appears to be imminent, or if a violent act has occurred or is
occurring.
   (3) A system for investigating violent incidents and situations
involving violence or the risk of violence. When investigating these
incidents, the hospital shall interview any employee involved in the
incident or situation.
   (4) A system for reporting, monitoring, and recordkeeping of
violent incidents and situations involving the risk of violence.
   (5) A system for reporting incidents of violence to the division
pursuant to subdivision (h).
   (6) Modifications to job design, staffing, security, equipment, or
facilities as determined necessary to prevent or address violence
against hospital employees.
   (c) The plan shall be developed in conjunction with affected
employees, including their recognized collective bargaining agents,
if any. Individuals or members of a hospital committee responsible
for developing the security plan shall be familiar with hospital
safety and security issues, as well as the identification of
aggressive and violent predicting factors. In developing the
workplace violence prevention plan, the hospital shall consider
guidelines or standards on violence in health care facilities issued
by the division, the federal Occupational Safety and Health
Administration, and, if available, the State Department of Public
Health.
   (d) All medical staff and health care workers who provide direct
care to patients shall, at least annually, receive workplace violence
prevention education and training that is designed in such a way as
to provide an opportunity for interactive questions and answers with
a person knowledgeable about the workplace violence prevention plan,
and that includes, but is not limited to, the following topics:
   (1) General safety measures.
   (2) Personal safety measures.
   (3) The assault cycle.
   (4) Aggression and violence predicting factors.
   (5) Obtaining patient history from a patient with violent
behavior.
   (6) Characteristics of aggressive and violent patients and
victims.
   (7) Verbal and physical maneuvers to diffuse and avoid violent
behavior.
   (8) Strategies to avoid physical harm.
   (9) Restraining techniques.
   (10) Appropriate use of medications as chemical restraints.
   (11) Any resources available to employees for coping with
incidents of violence, including, by way of example, critical
incident stress debriefing or employee assistance programs.
   (e) All temporary personnel shall be oriented to the workplace
violence prevention plan.
   (f) A hospital shall provide evaluation and treatment for an
employee who is injured or is otherwise a victim of a violent
incident and shall, upon the request of the employee, provide access
to followup counseling to address trauma or distress experienced by
the employee, including, but not limited to, individual crisis
counseling, support group counseling, peer assistance, and
professional referrals.
   (g) A hospital shall not prohibit an employee from, or take
punitive or retaliatory action against an employee for, seeking
assistance and intervention from local emergency services or law
enforcement when a violent incident occurs.
   (h) (1) A hospital shall report to the division any incident of
assault, as defined in Section 240 of the Penal Code, or battery, as
defined in Section 242 of the Penal Code, against a hospital employee
or patient that is committed by a patient or a person accompanying a
patient. This report shall include, but not be limited to, the date
and time of the incident, whether the victim was a hospital employee
or a patient, the unit in which the incident occurred, a description
of the circumstances surrounding the incident, and the hospital's
response to the incident.
   (2) A hospital shall report an incident to which paragraph (1)
applies to the division within 72 hours. If the incident results in
injury, involves the use of a firearm or other dangerous weapon, or
presents an urgent or emergent threat to the welfare, health, or
safety of hospital personnel, the hospital shall report the incident
to the division within 24 hours.
   (3) If a hospital fails to report an incident of assault or
battery pursuant to subdivision (f), the division may assess a civil
penalty against the hospital in an amount not to exceed one hundred
dollars ($100) per day for each day that the incident is not reported
following the initial 72-hour or 24-hour period, as applicable
pursuant to paragraph (2).
   (i) (1) By January 1, 2015, and annually thereafter, the division
shall report to the relevant fiscal and policy committees of the
Legislature, in a manner that protects patient and employee
confidentiality, information regarding incidents of violence at
hospitals, that includes, but is not limited to, the total number of
reports and which specific hospitals filed reports pursuant to
subdivision (h), the outcome of any related inspection or
investigation, citations levied against a hospital based on an
incident of workplace violence, and recommendations on how to prevent
incidents of workplace violence at hospitals.
   (2) The requirement for submitting a report imposed pursuant to
this subdivision is inoperative on January 1, 2019, pursuant to
Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.
   (3) A report to be submitted pursuant to this subdivision shall be
submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
  SEC. 2.  No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.