Oregon Adds Home Health, Hospice Agencies to Workplace Violence Prevention List

SALEM, Oregon—Home health and hospice agencies have been added to a list of Oregon healthcare employers for strengthening protections workplace violence in healthcare settings.

The proposed rule, OAR 437-002-0150 Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care, follows the passage of Senate Bill 537, which expanded existing requirements for workplace violence prevention by the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division among some healthcare employers. Home health agencies and home hospice providers were added to the list of healthcare employers, which already included ambulatory surgical centers and hospitals. The legislation changed “assaults” to a broader definition of “workplace violence.” That broader definition includes any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, assault, homicide or any other threatening behavior that occurs in the workplace.

The requirements for health care employers in the proposed rule broadly include:

• Conducting periodic security and safety assessments to identify existing threats of workplace violence
• Developing and implementing a workplace violence prevention and protection program based on assessments
• Providing workplace violence prevention and protection training on an annual basis

Health care employers also must consult with their safety committee, or, when allowed, with employees during safety meetings, on procedures to investigate, collect and report on incidents of workplace violence. The rule proposal amends two existing standards to align with the new rule: OAR 437-001-0295 discrimination complaint and OAR 437-001-0706 record keeping for healthcare assaults. The OAR 437-001-0706 proposal has been renamed record keeping for healthcare workplace violence.