SB 709 — An Act providing for violence prevention committees in health facilities, for duties of committees, for workplace violence reporting requirements and for powers and duties of the Department of Labor and Industry; and imposing fines and administrative penalties.

PRINTER'S NO.    745

                     THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA



                        SENATE BILL
                        No. 709
                                               Session of
                                                 2025

     INTRODUCED BY KANE, COLLETT, HUGHES, TARTAGLIONE, SCHWANK,
        KEARNEY, COSTA, HAYWOOD, COMITTA, SAVAL, STREET, CAPPELLETTI,
        FLYNN AND MILLER, MAY 5, 2025

     REFERRED TO LABOR AND INDUSTRY, MAY 5, 2025


                                    AN ACT
 1   Providing for violence prevention committees in health
 2      facilities, for duties of committees, for workplace violence
 3      reporting requirements and for powers and duties of the
 4      Department of Labor and Industry; and imposing fines and
 5      administrative penalties.
 6      The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
 7   hereby enacts as follows:
 8   Section 1.   Short title.
 9      This act shall be known and may be cited as the Health Care
10   Workplace Violence Prevention Act.
11   Section 2.   Definitions.
12      The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
13   have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
14   context clearly indicates otherwise:
15      "Committee."    The violence prevention committee established
16   by a health facility under this act.
17      "Department."    The Department of Labor and Industry of the
18   Commonwealth.
19      "Employee."    An individual who is employed by a health
 1   facility.
 2      "Health facility."     A hospital, long-term care nursing
 3   facility, home health care agency, abortion facility, ambulatory
 4   surgical facility, birth center or hospice, as those terms are
 5   defined in section 802.1 of the act of July 19, 1979 (P.L.130,
 6   No.48), known as the Health Care Facilities Act. The term
 7   includes a private psychiatric hospital and public psychiatric
 8   hospital as those terms are defined in 55 Pa. Code § 1151.2
 9   (relating to definitions).
10      "Program."     The workplace violence prevention program
11   established by a committee.
12      "Workplace violence."     Violence or the threat of violence
13   against an employee that occurs during the course of employment
14   or is substantially related to employment.
15   Section 3.     Violence prevention committee.
16      (a)   Establishment.--Each health facility shall establish a
17   violence prevention committee to establish, review, administer
18   and provide guidance about a program relating to the prevention
19   of workplace violence at the health facility.
20      (b)   Membership.--The committee shall be composed as follows:
21            (1)   At least one member or designee of the committee
22      shall represent management and oversee implementation of the
23      program. The committee shall be led by two cochairs, one
24      representing management and one representing the union
25      employees and nonunion employees in the case of a health
26      facility that has no union representing its employees.
27            (2)   At least 50% of the members of the committee shall
28      be nonmanagerial employees primarily engaged in direct
29      patient care or clinical care services or employees who
30      interface with the public. The committee shall have a

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 1      proportional representation of union employees, selected by
 2      their union, and nonunion employees, elected by secret ballot
 3      by their peers. The proportional representation shall
 4      incorporate all employees at risk of becoming a victim of
 5      workplace violence and shall include representation from all
 6      main areas of the health facility that may be subject to
 7      workplace violence.
 8            (3)   The remaining members of the committee shall be
 9      selected by management and shall have experience, expertise
10      or responsibility relevant to violence prevention or other
11      expertise that is considered beneficial to the committee.
12      (c)   Compensation.--A health facility shall provide paid time
13   to employees while the employees are participating in the
14   violence prevention committee.
15   Section 4.     Duties of committee.
16      (a)   Risk assessment evaluation.--
17            (1)   Except as provided under paragraph (2), each
18      committee shall perform an initial risk assessment based on
19      an analysis of incidents of the prior five years and then
20      annually thereafter, as well as an evaluation of the factors
21      that may put an employee at risk of workplace violence. Those
22      factors shall include, but not be limited to:
23                  (i)    Working in a public setting.
24                  (ii)    Guarding or maintaining property or
25            possessions.
26                  (iii)    Working in a high-crime area.
27                  (iv)    Working late at night or early in the morning.
28                  (v)    Using commuter lots that are not adequately lit
29            or frequently patrolled.
30                  (vi)    The existence of uncontrolled public access to

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 1            the workplace.
 2                  (vii)    Working in a public area with individuals in
 3            crisis.
 4                  (viii)    Working in an area where a patient or
 5            resident may exhibit violent behavior or where there has
 6            been a pattern of violent behavior.
 7                  (ix)    Working in a unit that does not have adequate
 8            employee staffing levels.
 9                  (x)    The existence or availability of a security
10            response team that is able to rapidly and effectively
11            respond to incidents of workplace violence.
12                  (xi)    Adequate training of employees to deal with
13            incidents of workplace violence.
14                  (xii)    The physical layout of the facility.
15            (2)   The risk assessment may be performed by an outside
16      consultant to be paid by the health facility.
17      (b)   Review.--Each committee shall meet quarterly to review
18   all incidents of workplace violence, to review compliance with
19   the program and the effectiveness of the program, to initiate
20   changes to the program where necessary and to perform any other
21   duties required under this act. The committee shall report
22   annually the results of the reviews to the department together
23   with any changes to the program adopted by the committee. If no
24   changes are adopted in response to the review, the committee
25   shall report that fact to the department.
26      (c)   Preparation of report and establishment of program.--
27   Each committee shall:
28            (1)   Prepare a report from the risk assessment evaluation
29      and establish a written violence prevention program to
30      mitigate risks based on the assessment. If there is more than

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 1      one health facility within a system, there shall be a program
 2      established for each health facility. The program shall be
 3      updated annually.
 4            (2)   Develop and maintain a detailed, written violence
 5      prevention plan that:
 6                  (i)    identifies and tracks incidents of workplace
 7            violence at the facility;
 8                  (ii)    identifies workplace risks;
 9                  (iii)    establishes a system to identify and flag
10            individuals with a history of violence; and
11                  (iv)    provides specific methods to address workplace
12            risks.
13            (3)   Make the risk assessment report available to the
14      members of the committee.
15            (4)   Establish a method to expedite reporting and review
16      of a report of workplace violence and make written
17      recommendations to the health facility management on
18      preventing additional incidents of similar workplace
19      violence.
20            (5)   Promptly after adopting a violence prevention plan,
21      file a copy of the plan with the department.
22      (d)   Employee training.--The committee shall provide
23   appropriate employee training to employees at the time of hire
24   and annually thereafter.
25   Section 5.     Reporting of workplace violence.
26      (a)   Reporting.--An employee who reasonably believes that an
27   incident of workplace violence has occurred shall report the
28   occurrence of the incident in accordance with the violence
29   prevention plan of the health facility unless the employee knows
30   a report has already been made. The report shall be made

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 1   immediately after the occurrence or discovery of the incident of
 2   workplace violence or as soon thereafter as reasonably
 3   practicable.
 4      (b)   Local law enforcement reporting.--It shall be considered
 5   a violation of this act to interfere with or discourage an
 6   employee from exercising the employee's right to contact or file
 7   a report with law enforcement regarding an incident of workplace
 8   violence.
 9      (c)   Retaliation.--An employee who reports the occurrence of
10   an incident of workplace violence or encourages others to
11   provide information regarding an incident of workplace violence
12   under subsection (a) may not be subject to discrimination,
13   dismissal, discipline, discharge or any other decision adverse
14   to the employee, unless the employee knowingly makes a false
15   report of an incident of workplace violence or is the
16   perpetrator of an incident of workplace violence or other
17   prohibited workplace behavior that resulted in a report by
18   another employee.
19      (d)   Maintenance of records.--A health facility shall
20   maintain a report of an incident of workplace violence,
21   including records or documents regarding the report, for a
22   period of no less than three years. A health facility that fails
23   to comply with this subsection, including falsifying the
24   information required under section 9, shall be in violation of
25   this act and subject to the penalties specified under section 7.
26   Section 6.    Distribution of reports of workplace violence.
27      A report of an incident of workplace violence that is
28   submitted to management or to the health facility shall be
29   provided to the committee within 72 hours of the submission of
30   the report.

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 1   Section 7.        Penalties.
 2         (a)   Administrative fine.--The department may levy an
 3   administrative fine on a health facility that violates this act
 4   or any regulation adopted under this act. The fine shall be not
 5   less than $1,000 and not more than $10,000 for each violation.
 6         (b)   Administrative order.--The department may order a health
 7   facility to take an action that the department deems necessary
 8   to correct a violation of this act, including payment of
 9   restitution to an employee, a directive to change a policy or
10   procedure or a directive to remedy a retaliation prohibited
11   under section 5(c).
12         (c)   Administrative agency law.--This section is subject to 2
13   Pa.C.S. Chs. 5 Subch. A (relating to practice and procedure of
14   Commonwealth agencies) and 7 Subch. A (relating to judicial
15   review of Commonwealth agency action).
16   Section 8.        Remedies.
17         (a)   General rule.--If a health facility has engaged in
18   conduct that causes or maintains a substantial risk of further
19   workplace violence, including failing to implement the
20   recommendations of a committee, a court may enjoin the health
21   facility from engaging in the illegal activities and may order
22   any other relief that is appropriate, including, but not limited
23   to:
24               (1)   reinstatement of an employee;
25               (2)   removal of the offending party from the employee's
26         work environment;
27               (3)   reimbursement for lost wages;
28               (4)   medical expenses;
29               (5)   compensation for emotional distress; and
30               (6)   attorney fees.

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 1    (b)   Reports to department.--
 2          (1)   If a committee concludes that a health facility has
 3    failed to implement the safety recommendations of the
 4    committee, the committee, by vote of a majority of the
 5    members, may report the health facility's failure to the
 6    department.
 7          (2)   If, after an investigation, the department
 8    determines that the health facility is acting in bad faith
 9    and failing to implement safety recommendations of the
10    committee, the department may impose penalties against the
11    health facility, including appropriate fines and
12    administrative penalties in accordance with section 7.
13          (3)   Additionally, any individual has the ability to file
14    a complaint with the department for a violation of this act.
15          (4)   If an activity, policy or practice has been reported
16    to management and, after reasonable opportunity for
17    correction, the problem has not been corrected or resolved
18    and an employee or a representative of the employees still
19    believes that a violation of the workplace violence
20    prevention program remains or that substantial risk of
21    workplace violence exists, such employee or representative of
22    the employees may request an inspection by giving notice to
23    the department of such a violation or risk. Such notice and
24    request shall be in writing, shall specify with reasonable
25    particularity the grounds for the notice and shall be signed
26    by the employee or representative of employees. A copy of
27    such notice shall be provided to the employer, except that on
28    the request of the person giving notice, such person's name
29    shall be withheld. If the department finds such a complaint
30    to be credible, an inspection shall be made by the

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 1      department.
 2            (5)   A representative of the employer and employees shall
 3      be given the opportunity to accompany the department
 4      representative during the inspection.
 5   Section 9.     Subpoenas and inspections.
 6      (a)   Subpoenas.--The Secretary of Labor and Industry or a
 7   designee who has investigatory subpoena authority may issue a
 8   subpoena upon the application of an attorney of the Office of
 9   General Counsel assigned by the department for the purpose of
10   investigating alleged violations of this act. The department may
11   make an application to the Commonwealth Court to enforce a
12   subpoena under this subsection. Nothing in this subsection shall
13   be construed to excuse a person from producing documents and
14   records as requested by the department under any other provision
15   of State law.
16      (b)   Inspections.--The department may obtain information to
17   investigate an alleged violation of this act or determine
18   compliance with this act, including entering and inspecting a
19   health facility at a reasonable time for the purpose of
20   interviewing employees and inspecting and obtaining copies of
21   records, reports, documents or other information in any medium.
22   Section 10.     Effect on collective bargaining agreements.
23      This act may not be construed to:
24            (1)   Supersede a current provision of an employee's
25      existing collective bargaining agreement which provides
26      greater rights and protection than prescribed by this act.
27            (2)   Prevent any new provisions of a collective
28      bargaining agreement which provides greater rights and
29      protections from being implemented and applicable to an
30      employee.

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 1   Section 11.   Postincident services.
 2      Following an incident of workplace violence, a health
 3   facility shall, at a minimum, offer immediate postincident
 4   services, including any necessary acute medical treatment or
 5   mental health services for each employee of the health facility
 6   who is directly involved in the incident of workplace violence.
 7   Section 12.   Requirements.
 8      (a)   Signage required.--A health facility shall post signs
 9   provided by the department at all public entrances of the health
10   facility to notify individuals entering the health facility that
11   the assault of an employee is considered a felony.
12      (b)   Development of signs.--The department shall consult with
13   the health facility industry in developing the signs required
14   under subsection (a).
15   Section 13.   Construction.
16      Nothing in this act shall be construed to supersede or
17   relieve a health facility from obligations and requirements set
18   forth under a Federal or State law, regulation, rule or
19   guideline governing health facilities.
20   Section 14.   Rules and regulations.
21      The department shall adopt rules and regulations necessary to
22   implement this act. The rules and regulations shall include
23   guidelines the department deems appropriate regarding workplace
24   violence prevention programs required under this act and related
25   to reporting and monitoring systems and employee training.
26   Section 15.   Effective date.
27      This act shall take effect in 180 days.




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