Senate Bill 240, now established as Texas’s Health and Safety Code Chapter 331, mandates that all healthcare facilities in Texas need to have a written workplace violence prevention plan by September 1, 2024. This means that all healthcare facilities in Texas are obligated to adopt and enforce a plan to prevent workplace violence and respond to incidents. Knowing these updates to the Texas Health and Safety Code is vital to ensure your facility is within compliance.
Healthcare Facilities Required to Comply with the Workplace Violence Prevention Law
It is important to know whether your workplace is required to comply with this new law. If you work at a healthcare facility that employs at least two registered nurses, it is likely your workplace qualifies. Healthcare facilities that will have to implement a workplace violence prevention plan include:
- Home health service providers with licenses that employ at least two registered nurses
- Hospitals that are licensed and state-run hospitals that are exempt from licensing
- Nursing facilities that are licensed and that employ at least two registered nurses
- Ambulatory surgical centers that are licensed
- Freestanding emergency medical care facilities
- Mental hospitals that are licensed
Currently, there are no federal laws that specifically address workplace violence in the healthcare industry. Other states that have similar laws regarding workplace violence against healthcare workers include California, Connecticut, Illinois, and Washington. Texas healthcare facilities now have until September 1, 2024, to comply.
Requirements of the New Texas Healthcare Workplace Violence Prevention Law
Facilities must do several things to meet the requirements of the new Texas Health and Safety Code Workplace Violence Prevention Law. First, a committee must be formed to address the specific requirements of this law. Next, the committee must create a written policy and plan that will be adopted by the healthcare facility.
Specifics Regarding the Workplace Violence Prevention Plan
The plan written by the Workplace Violence Prevention Committee cited above is required to meet the following guidelines outlined in Section 331.003:
- Be specific and based on the individual practice setting
- Implement a definition of “workplace violence” that includes:
- An act or threat of physical force against a healthcare provider or employee resulting in or likely to result in physical injury or psychological trauma
- An event involving the use of a firearm or other dangerous weapon, regardless of whether a healthcare provider or employee is injured by the weapon
- Mandate that the facility conducts workplace prevention training or education annually or more often
- Establish a protocol for responding to and investigating violent or potentially violent incidents at the facility
- Address physical security and safety for the facility and staff
- Mandate that the facility gather information from healthcare providers and employees when developing and implementing the workplace violence prevention plan
- Allow healthcare providers and employees to safely report incidents through existing occurrence reporting systems without fear of repercussions
- Mandate that the facility modify patient care assignments, as far as feasible, to prevent a healthcare provider or employee from treating a patient who has intentionally physically abused or threatened the provider or employee
Specifics Regarding the Workplace Violence Prevention Policy
The facility is required to adopt, implement, and enforce a written policy in accordance with the following:
- Giving significant consideration to the violence prevention plan recommended by the facility’s Workplace Violence Prevention Committee
- Assessing any currently existing facility violence prevention plan
- Encouraging healthcare providers and employees of the facility to provide confidential information on workplace violence to the committee
- Implementing a process to protect facility healthcare providers and / or employees from retaliation when they provide information to the committee
- Adhering to commission rules regarding workplace violence prevention
Creating a Workplace Violence Prevention Committee
Healthcare facilities, as defined above, will have to establish a committee to draft a written plan to prevent workplace violence. If a workplace violence prevention committee already exists at a facility, the plan can be a part of their duties. The committee must include:
- At least one registered nurse who cares for patients in the facility
- At least one physician licensed to practice medicine in Texas who directly provides care to patients of the facility
- At least one facility employee who provides security services for the facility, if one exists
The established committee is in charge of drafting the workplace violence prevention plan and policies. They must reevaluate the plan at least once a year and report the results to the facility’s governing body. The prevention plan must be made available to employees and healthcare providers, whether through electronic or physical copies.
History of Chapter 331
The Texas Legislature has been working on implementing improved workplace violence prevention policies for a while. In 2015, the Texas Center for Nursing Workforce Studies investigated workplace violence against nurses, and their findings were published in the Texas Senate committee report S.B. 240. It found that more than two nurses were assaulted every hour in the second quarter of 2022, roughly equaling 57 assaults per day.
The 2022 Texas Workplace Violence Against Nurses Employer Survey completed by the Department of State Health Services found that approximately 90 percent of responding hospitals had already implemented a workplace violence policy. However, the legislature still believes that the Health and Safety Code needs to be amended to implement an overall approach to legal guidance on the topic. With Chapter 331, healthcare facilities across Texas will now have similar guidelines.
Texas Healthcare Facilities Must Act by September 2024
Healthcare facilities have until September 1, 2024 to create their committees, write their policies, and get their plans in place as required by the Workplace Violence Prevention law. Covered employers should begin reviewing any currently established policies and taking steps to ensure compliance. Although the statute does not specifically mention penalties for non-compliant facilities, it authorizes enforcement through the appropriate licensing agency and allows for action against violators.
MehaffyWeber is skilled in a broad range of healthcare industry matters and can assist medical providers with a variety of legal needs. Contact our team if you need assistance responding to these new updates to the Texas Health and Safety Code for Workplace Violence Prevention Plans.