The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health issued a draft regulatory proposal that would require healthcare employers to develop workplace violence prevention plans specific to the hazards and corrective measures for each unit, service or operation of the employer, according to an article on the Mondaq website.
California’s Senate Bill 1299, enacted in the fall of 2014, requires the State’s Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board to adopt standards requiring certain hospitals to implement a workplace violence prevention plan by July 1, 2016.
Some things the plans must include are:
• Assessment procedures for the identification and evaluation of environmental risk and patient-specific workplace violence risk factors
• Procedures for timely correction of workplace violence hazards
• Provisions prohibiting retaliation against employees for seeking help from local emergency services or law enforcement
The proposal also would require covered employers to keep records of violent incidents, and maintain those records for a minimum of five years.
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