Bill H.259 would require standardized hospital workplace-violence prevention plans

Representative Marie Cortes introduced H.259 to the Senate Health & Welfare Committee, proposing statewide, standardized workplace-violence prevention plans for hospitals.

Cortes said the measure responds to a rise in threats and assaults against health-care workers and was developed with nurses, nurse practitioners and hospital stakeholders. "This is another bill where the stakeholders all worked on it together and came to consensus," Cortes said.

The bill would require each licensed hospital to establish and implement a security plan addressing high-risk areas such as emergency departments, form a security-plan team that includes frontline health-care workers and law enforcement representatives, and base the plan on a security risk assessment. The plan must provide for at least one hospital employee trained in de-escalation to be present at all times in emergency and patient-care areas and require a trauma-informed-care liaison to law enforcement to support victims and prioritize staff safety and…