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Lawmakers hear broad support for bill to require hospital workplace-violence prevention programs
Summary
A bipartisan hearing on S.1718 drew hospital, nursing and union leaders who described rising assaults on health-care workers and urged the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security to advance the bill requiring facility-specific risk assessments, workforce engagement, training, reporting and enforcement tied to licensing.
Senators and representatives at the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security convened testimony on S.1718, an act that would require health-care employers to develop and implement facility-specific workplace-violence prevention programs.
Supporters told the committee the measure reflects extensive compromise among hospitals, nurses and unions and is designed to prevent assaults on staff, strengthen enforcement and provide job protections for workers who are assaulted.
The bill “requires all Massachusetts hospitals to develop a facility specific risk assessment, and then use that assessment to implement a comprehensive program to reduce the risk of workplace violence,” Senator Lovely said in opening remarks. She asked the committee to give the bill a favorable recommendation.
Why it matters: Witnesses described a sustained…
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