N.Y. Public Health Law § 2832: Violence prevention program

* § 2832. Violence prevention program. 1. For the purposes of this

section, the term "facility" shall mean a general hospital or a nursing

home as defined in section twenty-eight hundred one of this article.

2. Within twelve months of the effective date of this section, every

facility shall establish a workplace violence prevention program. Such

program in a general hospital shall be consistent with regulatory

requirements including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Hospital Conditions of Participation regarding caring for patients in a

safe setting 42 CFR § 482.13(c)(2), and emergency preparedness 42 CFR §

482.15(a) and (d)(1), and the workplace violence standards of any

accrediting organization deemed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid

Services under which such hospital maintains accreditation provided

however, such standards are comparable to those established by The Joint

Commission. The purpose of such a program shall be to protect health

care workers, patients, facility residents, and visitors. The program

shall, at a minimum, include the requirements set forth in this section.

3. Beginning January first, two thousand twenty-seven, all general

hospitals shall conduct, not less than annually, a workplace safety and

security assessment and develop a safety and security plan that

addresses identified workplace violence threats or hazards. As part of

the plan, a general hospital shall adopt security measures and policies,

including personnel training policies designed to prevent or minimize

identified workplace violence threats or hazards and protect employees,

patients, and visitors from aggressive or violent behavior, including

but not limited to, credible threats, assaults, injuries, and deaths. In

conducting the assessment and developing the plan, general hospitals

shall ensure the active involvement of employees, including the

recognized collective bargaining agent or agents, if any, and may do so

through established general hospital safety and security committees and

existing labor management committees. Nothing in this section shall

diminish, supplant or restrict the rights, privileges and remedies of

any employee or collective bargaining representative under applicable

law, rule or regulation or under the terms of a collective bargaining

agreement.

4. The safety and security assessment shall be tailored to the size,

complexity, and local geographical factors affecting the general

hospital and shall identify and consider relevant threats and hazards,

including but not limited to workplace violence incident reports and

incident logs, concerns or complaints raised by employees, patients,

visitors and recognized collective bargaining representatives, safety

and security considerations relating to the general hospital's layout

and access points, visitor management, and protective factors such as

access control, engineering controls to limit violence or protect

employees, alarms and communication systems, and other relevant factors,

as appropriate to the general hospital. Additionally, the assessment

shall consider the adequacy of employee training policies and security

procedures, including the handling of disruptive or violent patients and

other persons. Health care workers regularly assigned to provide

security in general hospital settings shall be trained regarding the

role of security in overall hospital operations.

5. Based on the findings and ongoing review of the workplace violence

assessment, general hospitals shall implement a workplace violence

safety and security plan, which shall be updated as necessary to address

newly identified material risks and changes in conditions. The safety

and security plan shall specify methods to reduce identified risks,

which may include employee training, increased staffing and security,

engineering controls such as barriers, lighting, alarms and

communication systems, safety equipment, general hospital improvements

or modifications, and other appropriate measures relevant to the general

hospital. Each general hospital shall provide a written detailed summary

of the safety and security plan to its employees and collective

bargaining representatives, if applicable. Each general hospital shall

also provide information to its employees and collective bargaining

representatives, if applicable, about how to report incidents of

workplace violence. Each general hospital shall share summaries of the

incident log, appropriately redacted to protect the privacy of persons

involved in an incident, trends and analysis of relevant data with the

general hospital security or safety committee responsible for workplace

violence and ensure that the data is part of the workplace violence

assessment process.

6. Notwithstanding any provision of this section, compliance by a

nursing home with the federal regulations 42 CFR 483.71(a)(3) and

(b)(1), and 42 CFR 483.73(a)(1), governing nursing homes shall satisfy

the requirements of this section for such facilities, provided that such

assessments and plans address workplace violence threats and hazards.

* NB Effective September 18, 2026