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House committee advances bill expanding protections for 'vulnerable workers' after emotional testimony
Summary
After extensive testimony from emergency clinicians, nurses and hospital leaders, the committee passed House Bill 1040, adding health care and certain school employees to a 'vulnerable workers' enhancement and adopting a reporting amendment; the measure passed 11–1.
Representative McNamara secured committee approval Thursday for House Bill 1040, a proposal to expand enhanced battery penalties to include health care and school employees and to create time-bound incident reporting to improve data on workplace violence.
Supporters said the bill closes a gap left after earlier laws that focused on emergency departments. "Workplace violence is something that almost every worker in the emergency department is personally familiar with," said Dr. Lindsey Zimmerman, a practicing emergency physician and past president of the Indiana chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians, citing polls showing high rates of assault against emergency clinicians.
Nurses and…
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