Bill Text: NY S04909 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Requires hospitals to establish a violence prevention program and conduct an annual safety and security assessment for the purpose of protecting health care workers, patients, families and visitors.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-04-19 - ADVANCED TO THIRD READING [S04909 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S04909-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         4909--A

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    February 17, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced by Sens. SEPULVEDA, CLEARE -- read twice and ordered printed,
          and  when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health -- recom-
          mitted to the Committee on Health in accordance with  Senate  Rule  6,
          sec.  8  --  committee  discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
          amended and recommitted to said committee

        AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to  requiring  hospi-
          tals to conduct an annual safety and security assessment and develop a
          violence prevention program

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. The public health law is amended by adding  a  new  section
     2  2831 to read as follows:
     3    §  2831.  Violence  prevention  program.  1.  Within six months of the
     4  effective date  of  this  section,  every  hospital  shall  establish  a
     5  violence  prevention  program  for the purpose of protecting health care
     6  workers, patients, families and visitors. The program shall, at a  mini-
     7  mum, include the requirements set forth in this section.
     8    2.  Beginning September first, two thousand twenty-five, all hospitals
     9  shall conduct, not less than annually, a safety and security  assessment
    10  and  develop a safety and security plan. As part of the plan, a hospital
    11  shall adopt security  policies  including  personnel  training  policies
    12  designed to protect personnel, patients, and visitors from aggressive or
    13  violent  behavior. The assessment shall consider limiting and regulating
    14  visitor access through a secure primary  entrance,  implementing  strong
    15  visitor  management  programs through the use of visitor screening tech-
    16  nologies that incorporate the issuance of temporary identification badg-
    17  es to all visitors entering  the  hospital.  In  conducting  the  annual
    18  assessment  and  developing  the  plan,  the hospital shall consult with
    19  affected employees, including the recognized collective bargaining agent
    20  or agents, if any, and members of the hospital  medical  staff  and  may
    21  occur  through  established  hospital safety and security committees and

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02307-05-4
        S. 4909--A                          2

     1  existing labor management  committees.  Persons  regularly  assigned  to
     2  provide  security  in  a  hospital  setting  shall be adequately trained
     3  regarding the role of security in  hospital  operations,  including  the
     4  identification  of aggressive and violent predicting factors and manage-
     5  ment of violent disturbances.
     6    3. The annual safety and security assessment shall include, but not be
     7  limited to, security considerations relating to all of the following:
     8    (a) the facility's layout, access restrictions and physical and struc-
     9  tural layout concerns that could  lead  to  endangering  the  safety  of
    10  patients and hospital personnel;
    11    (b) the impact of sufficient staffing, including security personnel to
    12  deliver security;
    13    (c) adequate policy and training to respond to violent acts;
    14    (d)  the  crime  rate  in  surrounding areas, lighting, and efforts to
    15  cooperate with local law  enforcement  regarding  violent  acts  in  the
    16  facility;
    17    (e)  protective  measures,  including communication, alarms and access
    18  control;
    19    (f) the handling and identification of  disturbed  patients,  visitors
    20  and employees;
    21    (g)  the  handling  of threats and the presence of individuals who may
    22  pose a risk of violence;
    23    (h) hospital safety and emergency preparedness;
    24    (i) mechanisms for ensuring appropriate safety and  security  communi-
    25  cation and information sharing between staff; and
    26    (j)  safety  protocols  to  meet  the needs of individuals with mental
    27  illness, violence prevention and de-escalation safeguards.
    28    4. The safety and security plan shall specify methods to reduce  iden-
    29  tified  risks,  including  training,  increased  staffing  and security,
    30  equipment and facility modifications.  The plan shall provide that  each
    31  hospital  have  at least one off-duty law enforcement officer or trained
    32  security personnel be present at all times in the  emergency  department
    33  of  such  hospital.    Every hospital shall make the safety and security
    34  plan and other aspects of the  violence  prevention  program  available,
    35  upon  request, to its employees, their designated representatives and to
    36  the department.
    37    § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
    38  it shall have become a law.