BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1083
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 21, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Dave Jones, Chair
AB 1083 (John A. Perez) - As Introduced: February 27, 2009
SUBJECT : Health facilities: security plans.
SUMMARY : Requires hospitals to annually review and update
their security and safety plans and to include information on
aggressive or violent behavior at other facilities.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires all hospitals, after July 1, 2010 to annually conduct
a security and safety assessment, and using the assessment,
develop and annually update a security plan with measures to
protect personnel, patients, and visitors from aggressive or
violent behavior.
2)Permits the security plan to include efforts to cooperate with
local law enforcement.
3)Requires hospitals, when developing the plan and assessment,
to consult with affected employees and their representatives,
and upon request, to provide the assessment and plan to any
employee or their recognized bargaining agent.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires all licensed hospitals to conduct a security and
safety assessment, and using the assessment, develop a
security plan to protect patients, staff, and visitors to the
hospital from aggressive or violent behavior.
2)Specifies that the security and safety assessment examine
trends of aggressive/violent behavior and track violent
incidents at the facility.
3)Authorizes the security plan to review the hospital's physical
layout, staffing, availability of security personnel, and
staff training for responding to violent incidents.
4)Directs hospitals to consider applicable guidelines and
standards from the Department of Public Health (DPH), the
Division of Occupational Safety and Health and the federal
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Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
5)Requires security plans to include personnel training policies
designed to protect personnel, patients, and visitors.
6)Specifies that hospital staff or contractors developing the
plan be familiar with hospital operations and organization,
protective equipment and alarms, management of disturbed
patients and visitors, reporting of crimes, and identification
of aggressive and violent predicting factors.
7)Requires hospitals to have sufficient personnel to provide
security consistent with the security plan and security
personnel to be trained in applicable techniques and skills.
8)Requires hospitals to report any assault or battery against
any hospital employee which results in injury to local law
enforcement within 72 hours of the incident.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill has not yet been analyzed by a fiscal
committee.
COMMENTS :
1)PURPOSE OF THIS BILL . This bill is, according to the Service
Employees International Union (SEIU), intended to update
existing law regarding hospital security planning and to
better prevent or manage aggressive and violent acts in or
near hospitals. SEIU reports that many hospitals maintain
security plans, but that these plans are not consistently
updated, and often exclude employee participation. SEIU
represents that violence against hospital employees is
increasing, and that greater planning and vigilance will
reduce the risk to hospital staff, patients and visitors.
2)BACKGROUND . Recent data developed by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics (BLS) indicates that hospital workers are at high
risk for violence in the workplace. The BLS estimates that in
a typical year 2,637 nonfatal assaults are made on hospital
workers in this country, a rate of 8.3 assaults per 10,000
workers. This rate is much higher than the same rate for all
other private sector industries which is only 2 nonfatal
assaults per 10,000 workers. Nurses and aides with direct
patient contact are at higher risk for violence as are
emergency response personnel, hospital security officers, and
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other providers. A survey of nearly 700 California doctors
and nurses by SEIU found that one half of respondents had
witnessed violence in their hospital and that one quarter had
been targeted in a violent incident.
3)SUPPORT . SEIU supports this bill and notes that violence is
increasing in hospitals, and that research by the National
Institute for Occupational Safety recommends participation of
employees in development of security plans in order to reduce
violence in health care settings.
4)SUPPORT IF AMENDED . The California Medical Association (CMA)
would support the bill if physicians who practice at a
facility would have access to the plan and be consulted in the
plan's development. CMA notes that this bill specifies
employees of the hospital be included in a plan's development,
but that doctors are not considered hospital employees and
would not be covered by this bill as written.
5)OPPOSITION . The California Association of Joint Powers
Authorities (CAJPA) opposes the proposed requirement of
including consideration of violent acts at other facilities as
part of the expanded reporting requirement for hospitals.
CAJPA states that consideration of violent acts at other
hospitals will unnecessarily expand liability for public
hospitals and suggests that there is some relationship between
the violent act at one facility and the security of another.
The California Hospital Association objects to the requirement
that hospitals consult with affected employees, noting it is a
hospital's prerogative to determine who to consult in
preparing the hospital's plan.
6)PREVIOUS AND RELATED LEGISLATION . AB 508 (Speier), Chapter
936, Statutes of 1993 requires hospitals to conduct security
assessments and to have a security plan.
7)POLICY QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS . CAJPA believes that the
requirement to include consideration of events occurring at
other facilities would expand the potential liability of a
hospital. This requirement appears in the bill's section
which specifies elements to be considered in the development
of the plan. This legal ambiguity could be resolved by
eliminating the reference to violent events occurring at other
facilities and, rather, add an amendment requiring hospitals
to consider trends in violent and aggressive behaviors
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affecting hospitals.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Service Employees International Union (sponsor)
Opposition
California Association of Joint Powers Authorities
California Hospital Association
Analysis Prepared by : John Miller / HEALTH / (916) 319-2097