Union Calendar No. 3
117th CONGRESS 1st Session |
[Report No. 117–14, Part I]
To direct the Secretary of Labor to issue an occupational safety and health standard that requires covered employers within the health care and social service industries to develop and implement a comprehensive workplace violence prevention plan, and for other purposes.
February 22, 2021
Mr. Courtney (for himself, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Mr. Bacon, Ms. Adams, Mr. Young, Mr. Khanna, Mr. Fitzpatrick, and Mr. Cole) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, and Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
April 5, 2021
Additional sponsors: Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Castro of Texas, Ms. Wild, Mr. DeSaulnier, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mrs. Trahan, Mr. Sherman, Mr. García of Illinois, Mr. Van Drew, Mr. Hastings, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, Mr. Larson of Connecticut, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Morelle, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Foster, Mr. Mrvan, Ms. Clark of Massachusetts, Ms. Norton, Mr. Sablan, Ms. DeLauro, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mr. Welch, Ms. Dean, Mr. Michael F. Doyle of Pennsylvania, Ms. Barragán, Ms. Blunt Rochester, Mr. Casten, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Vargas, Ms. Houlahan, Mr. Stanton, Mr. Pocan, Ms. McCollum, Mr. Price of North Carolina, Mr. Cicilline, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Crist, Ms. Omar, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Vela, Mr. Crow, Ms. DeGette, Ms. Titus, Mr. Ryan, Mr. Deutch, Ms. Craig, Mr. Suozzi, Mr. Smith of Washington, Miss Rice of New York, Ms. Garcia of Texas, Ms. Sánchez, Mr. Butterfield, Mr. Brendan F. Boyle of Pennsylvania, Mr. Norcross, Mr. Carbajal, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Garamendi, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Rush, Ms. DelBene, Ms. Speier, Mr. Carson, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Levin of Michigan, Mr. Lawson of Florida, Mrs. Dingell, Mr. Jones, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Himes, Mr. Kildee, Mr. O'Halleran, Mr. San Nicolas, Mr. Evans, Mr. Sires, Ms. Chu, Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Ms. Lois Frankel of Florida, Mr. Lowenthal, Ms. Scanlon, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mr. Gomez, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Huffman, Mr. Ruppersberger, Mr. Thompson of California, Mr. McNerney, Ms. Brownley, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Payne, Mr. Connolly, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Ms. Meng, Mr. Raskin, Mr. Keating, Mrs. Axne, Mr. Yarmuth, Ms. Jacobs of California, Ms. Underwood, Mr. Espaillat, Mrs. McBath, Mr. Brown, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Bowman, Ms. Stevens, Mr. Aguilar, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Takano, Ms. Kuster, Mr. Grijalva, Ms. Pingree, Ms. Manning, Ms. Sherrill, Ms. Leger Fernandez, Mr. Peters, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Sarbanes, Mr. Mfume, Ms. Johnson of Texas, Mr. Gallego, Mr. Lieu, Mr. Pappas, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Larsen of Washington, Ms. Newman, Ms. Strickland, Mr. Tonko, Ms. Williams of Georgia, Ms. Bass, Ms. Ross, Mr. Schrader, Ms. Schrier, Mr. Stauber, and Ms. Velázquez
April 5, 2021
Reported from the Committee on Education and Labor with an amendment
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
April 5, 2021
Committees on Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means discharged; committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on February 22, 2021]
To direct the Secretary of Labor to issue an occupational safety and health standard that requires covered employers within the health care and social service industries to develop and implement a comprehensive workplace violence prevention plan, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
This Act may be cited as the “Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act”.
The table of contents for this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title.
Sec. 2. Table of contents.
Sec. 101. Workplace violence prevention standard.
Sec. 102. Scope and application.
Sec. 103. Requirements for workplace violence prevention standard.
Sec. 104. Rules of construction.
Sec. 105. Other definitions.
Sec. 201. Application of the workplace violence prevention standard to certain facilities receiving Medicare funds.
(a) Interim final standard.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor shall issue an interim final standard on workplace violence prevention—
(A) to require certain employers in the health care and social service sectors, and certain employers in sectors that conduct activities similar to the activities in the health care and social service sectors, to develop and implement a comprehensive workplace violence prevention plan and carry out other activities or requirements described in section 103 to protect health care workers, social service workers, and other personnel from workplace violence; and
(2) INAPPLICABLE PROVISIONS OF LAW AND EXECUTIVE ORDER.—The following provisions of law and Executive orders shall not apply to the issuance of the interim final standard under this subsection:
(A) The requirements applicable to occupational safety and health standards under section 6(b) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 655(b)).
(C) Subchapter I of chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code (commonly referred to as the “Paperwork Reduction Act”).
(3) NOTICE AND COMMENT.—Notwithstanding paragraph (2)(B), the Secretary shall, prior to issuing the interim final standard under this subsection, provide notice in the Federal Register of the interim final standard and a 30-day period for public comment.
(4) EFFECTIVE DATE OF INTERIM STANDARD.—The interim final standard shall—
(A) take effect on a date that is not later than 30 days after issuance, except that such interim final standard may include a reasonable phase-in period for the implementation of required engineering controls that take effect after such date;
(B) be enforced in the same manner and to the same extent as any standard promulgated under section 6(b) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 655(b)); and
(5) FAILURE TO PROMULGATE.—If an interim final standard described in paragraph (1) is not issued not later than 1 year of the date of enactment of this Act, the provisions of this title shall be in effect and enforced in the same manner and to the same extent as any standard promulgated under section 6(b) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (29 U.S.C. 655(b)) until such provisions are superseded in whole by an interim final standard issued by the Secretary that meets the requirements of paragraph (1).
(b) Final standard.—
(1) PROPOSED STANDARD.—Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor shall, pursuant to section 6 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (29 U.S.C. 655), promulgate a proposed standard on workplace violence prevention—
(2) FINAL STANDARD.—Not later than 42 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue a final standard on such proposed standard that shall—
(A) provide no less protection than any workplace violence standard adopted by a State plan that has been approved by the Secretary under section 18 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 667), provided the Secretary finds that the final standard is feasible on the basis of the best available evidence; and
(B) be effective and enforceable in the same manner and to the same extent as any standard promulgated under section 6(b) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 655(b)).
In this title:
(1) COVERED FACILITY.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—The term “covered facility” includes the following:
(i) Any hospital, including any specialty hospital, in-patient or outpatient setting, or clinic operating within a hospital license, or any setting that provides outpatient services.
(ii) Any residential treatment facility, including any nursing home, skilled nursing facility, hospice facility, and long-term care facility.
(iv) Any medical treatment or social service setting or clinic at a correctional or detention facility.
(v) Any community care setting, including a community-based residential facility, group home, and mental health clinic.
(ix) Any facility described in clauses (i) through (viii) operated by a Federal Government agency and required to comply with occupational safety and health standards pursuant to section 1960 of title 29, Code of Federal Regulations (as such section is in effect on the date of enactment of this Act).
(2) COVERED SERVICES.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—The term “covered service” includes the following services and operations:
(i) Any services and operations provided in any field work setting, including home health care, home-based hospice, and home-based social work.
(ii) Any emergency services and transport, including such services provided by firefighters and emergency responders.
Each standard described in section 101 shall include, at a minimum, the following requirements:
(1) WORKPLACE VIOLENCE PREVENTION PLAN.—Not later than 6 months after the date of promulgation of the interim final standard under section 101(a), a covered employer shall develop, implement, and maintain an effective written workplace violence prevention plan (in this section referred to as the “Plan”) for covered employees at each covered facility and for covered employees performing a covered service on behalf of such employer, which meets the following:
(A) PLAN DEVELOPMENT.—Each Plan shall—
(i) be developed and implemented with the meaningful participation of direct care employees, other employees, and employee representatives, for all aspects of the Plan;
(B) PLAN CONTENT.—Each Plan shall include procedures and methods for the following:
(i) Identification of the individual and the individual’s position responsible for implementation of the Plan.
(ii) With respect to each work area and unit at the covered facility or while covered employees are performing the covered service, risk assessment and identification of workplace violence risks and hazards to employees exposed to such risks and hazards (including environmental risk factors and patient-specific risk factors), which shall be—
(iii) Hazard prevention, engineering controls, or work practice controls to correct hazards, in a timely manner, applying industrial hygiene principles of the hierarchy of controls, which—
(iv) Reporting, incident response, and post-incident investigation procedures, including procedures—
(v) Procedures for emergency response, including procedures for threats of mass casualties and procedures for incidents involving a firearm or a dangerous weapon.
(vi) Procedures for communicating with and training the covered employees on workplace violence hazards, threats, and work practice controls, the employer’s plan, and procedures for confronting, responding to, and reporting workplace violence threats, incidents, and concerns, and employee rights.
(2) VIOLENT INCIDENT INVESTIGATION.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—As soon as practicable after a workplace violence incident, risk, or hazard of which a covered employer has knowledge, the employer shall conduct an investigation of such incident, risk, or hazard under which the employer shall—
(3) TRAINING AND EDUCATION.—With respect to the covered employees covered under a Plan of a covered employer, the employer shall provide training and education to such employees who may be exposed to workplace violence hazards and risks, which meet the following requirements:
(A) Annual training and education shall include information on the Plan, including identified workplace violence hazards, work practice control measures, reporting procedures, record keeping requirements, response procedures, anti-retaliation policies, and employee rights.
(B) Additional hazard recognition training shall be provided for supervisors and managers to ensure they—
(C) Additional training shall be provided for each such covered employee whose job circumstances have changed, within a reasonable timeframe after such change.
(D) Applicable training shall be provided under this paragraph for each new covered employee prior to the employee’s job assignment.
(E) All training shall provide such employees opportunities to ask questions, give feedback on training, and request additional instruction, clarification, or other followup.
(F) All training shall be provided in-person and by an individual with knowledge of workplace violence prevention and of the Plan, except that any annual training described in subparagraph (A) provided to an employee after the first year such training is provided to such employee may be conducted by live video if in-person training is impracticable.
(4) RECORDKEEPING AND ACCESS TO PLAN RECORDS.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—Each covered employer shall—
(i) maintain for not less than 5 years—
(I) records related to each Plan of the employer, including workplace violence risk and hazard assessments, and identification, evaluation, correction, and training procedures;
(ii) (I) make such records and logs available, upon request, to covered employees and their representatives for examination and copying in accordance with section 1910.1020 of title 29, Code of Federal Regulations (as such section is in effect on the date of enactment of this Act), and in a manner consistent with HIPAA privacy regulations (defined in section 1180(b)(3) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320d–9(b)(3))) and part 2 of title 42, Code of Federal Regulations (as such part is in effect on the date of enactment of this Act); and
(II) ensure that any such records and logs that may be copied, transmitted electronically, or otherwise removed from the employer’s control for purposes of this clause omit any element of personal identifying information sufficient to allow identification of any patient, resident, client, or other individual alleged to have committed a violent incident (including the individual’s name, address, electronic mail address, telephone number, or social security number, or other information that, alone or in combination with other publicly available information, reveals such individual’s identity).
(B) VIOLENT INCIDENT LOG DESCRIPTION.—Each violent incident log shall—
(i) be maintained by a covered employer for each covered facility controlled by the employer and for each covered service being performed by a covered employee on behalf of such employer;
(ii) be based on a template developed by the Secretary not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act;
(iii) include, at a minimum, a description of—
(I) the violent incident (including environmental risk factors present at the time of the incident);
(II) the date, time, and location of the incident, and the names and job titles of involved employees;
(IV) a classification of the perpetrator who committed the violence, including whether the perpetrator was—
(C) ANNUAL SUMMARY.—
(i) COVERED EMPLOYERS.—Each covered employer shall prepare and submit to the Secretary an annual summary of each violent incident log for the preceding calendar year that shall—
(I) with respect to each covered facility, and each covered service, for which such a log has been maintained, include—
(III) be posted for 3 months beginning February 1 of each year in a manner consistent with the requirements of section 1904 of title 29, Code of Federal Regulations (as such section is in effect on the date of enactment of this Act), relating to the posting of summaries of injury and illness logs;
(5) ANNUAL REPORT.—
(A) REPORT TO SECRETARY.—Not later than February 15 of each year, each covered employer shall report to the Secretary, on a form provided by the Secretary, the frequency, quantity, and severity of workplace violence, and any incident response and post-incident investigation (including abatement measures) for the incidents set forth in the annual summary of the violent incident log described in paragraph (4)(C). The contents of the report of the Secretary to Congress shall not disclose any confidential information.
(6) ANNUAL EVALUATION.—Each covered employer shall conduct an annual written evaluation, conducted with the full, active participation of covered employees and employee representatives, of—
(7) PLAN UPDATES.—Each covered employer shall incorporate changes to the Plan, in a manner consistent with paragraph (1)(A)(i) and based on findings from the most recent annual evaluation conducted under paragraph (6), as appropriate.
(8) ANTI-RETALIATION.—
(A) POLICY.—Each covered employer shall adopt a policy prohibiting any person (including an agent of the employer) from the discrimination or retaliation described in subparagraph (B).
(B) PROHIBITION.—No covered employer shall discriminate or retaliate against any employee for—
(C) ENFORCEMENT.—This paragraph shall be enforced in the same manner and to the same extent as any standard promulgated under section 6(b) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (29 U.S.C. 655(b)).
Notwithstanding section 18 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 667)—
(1) nothing in this title shall be construed to curtail or limit authority of the Secretary under any other provision of the law;
In this title:
(1) WORKPLACE VIOLENCE.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—The term “workplace violence” means any act of violence or threat of violence, without regard to intent, that occurs at a covered facility or while a covered employee performs a covered service.
(B) EXCLUSIONS.—The term “workplace violence” does not include lawful acts of self-defense or lawful acts of defense of others.
(C) INCLUSIONS.—The term “workplace violence” includes—
(2) TYPE 1 VIOLENCE.—The term “type 1 violence”—
(3) TYPE 2 VIOLENCE.—The term “type 2 violence” means workplace violence directed at a covered employee by customers, clients, patients, students, inmates, or any individual for whom a covered facility provides services or for whom the employee performs covered services.
(4) TYPE 3 VIOLENCE.—The term “type 3 violence” means workplace violence directed at a covered employee by a present or former employee, supervisor, or manager.
(5) TYPE 4 VIOLENCE.—The term “type 4 violence” means workplace violence directed at a covered employee by an individual who is not an employee, but has or is known to have had a personal relationship with such employee, or with a customer, client, patient, student, inmate, or any individual for whom a covered facility provides services or for whom the employee performs covered services.
(6) THREAT OF VIOLENCE.—The term “threat of violence” means a statement or conduct that—
(7) ALARM.—The term “alarm” means a mechanical, electrical, or electronic device that does not rely upon an employee’s vocalization in order to alert others.
(8) DANGEROUS WEAPON.—The term “dangerous weapon” means an instrument capable of inflicting death or serious bodily injury, without regard to whether such instrument was designed for that purpose.
(9) ENGINEERING CONTROLS.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—The term “engineering controls” means an aspect of the built space or a device that removes a hazard from the workplace or creates a barrier between a covered employee and the hazard.
(B) INCLUSIONS.—For purposes of reducing workplace violence hazards, the term “engineering controls” includes electronic access controls to employee occupied areas, weapon detectors (installed or handheld), enclosed workstations with shatter-resistant glass, deep service counters, separate rooms or areas for high-risk patients, locks on doors, removing access to or securing items that could be used as weapons, furniture affixed to the floor, opaque glass in patient rooms (which protects privacy, but allows the health care provider to see where the patient is before entering the room), closed-circuit television monitoring and video recording, sight-aids, and personal alarm devices.
(10) ENVIRONMENTAL RISK FACTORS.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—The term “environmental risk factors” means factors in the covered facility or area in which a covered service is performed that may contribute to the likelihood or severity of a workplace violence incident.
(B) CLARIFICATION.—Environmental risk factors may be associated with the specific task being performed or the work area, such as working in an isolated area, poor illumination or blocked visibility, and lack of physical barriers between individuals and persons at risk of committing workplace violence.
(11) PATIENT-SPECIFIC RISK FACTORS.—The term “patient-specific risk factors” means factors specific to a patient that may increase the likelihood or severity of a workplace violence incident, including—
(13) WORK PRACTICE CONTROLS.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—The term “work practice controls” means procedures and rules that are used to effectively reduce workplace violence hazards.
(a) In general.—Section 1866 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395cc) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a)(1)—
(C) by inserting after subparagraph (Y) the following new subparagraph:
“(Z) in the case of hospitals that are not otherwise subject to the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (or a State occupational safety and health plan that is approved under 18(b) of such Act) and skilled nursing facilities that are not otherwise subject to such Act (or such a State occupational safety and health plan), to comply with the Workplace Violence Prevention Standard (as promulgated under section 101 of the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act).”; and
(2) in subsection (b)(4)—
(A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting “and a hospital or skilled nursing facility that fails to comply with the requirement of subsection (a)(1)(Z) (relating to the Workplace Violence Prevention Standard)” after “Bloodborne Pathogens standard)”; and
(B) in subparagraph (B)—
(ii) by inserting “(or, in the case of a failure to comply with the requirement of subsection (a)(1)(Z), for a violation of the Workplace Violence Prevention standard referred to in such subsection by a hospital or skilled nursing facility, as applicable, that is subject to the provisions of such Act)” before the period at the end.
Union Calendar No. 3 | |||||
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[Report No. 117–14, Part I] | |||||
A BILL | |||||
To direct the Secretary of Labor to issue an occupational safety and health standard that requires covered employers within the health care and social service industries to develop and implement a comprehensive workplace violence prevention plan, and for other purposes. | |||||
April 5, 2021 | |||||
Reported from the Committee on Education and Labor with an amendment | |||||
April 5, 2021 | |||||
Committees on Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means discharged; committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed |