Written by Mark Fijman from Phelps Dunbar LLP on March 20, 2024
Under recently enacted legislation, health care employers in Texas must have plans in place to protect health care workers from workplace violence by Sept. 1, 2024. The law aims to address a growing and disturbing trend. The U.S. Department of Labor reports that health care and social service industries experience the highest rates of injuries caused by workplace violence and are five times as likely to suffer a workplace violence injury than workers overall. In recent years, health care workers accounted for 73% of all nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses due to violence.
Which health care employers are covered under the new law?
Under Chapter 331 of the Texas Health and Safety Code, the scope of health care facilities that fall under the new requirement is broad. It includes home health services that employ at least two registered nurses, licensed or state-run hospitals, nursing facilities that employ at least two registered nurses, ambulatory surgical centers, freestanding emergency medical care facilities, and licensed mental hospitals.
What new duties do covered health care employers have?
The law requires each covered facility to establish a workplace violence prevention committee, which is tasked with creating a workplace violence prevention plan. The committee is required to include at least one registered nurse, one physician who provides direct patient care (if one is employed at the facility) and at least one employee who provides security services. Once a prevention plan is developed, each covered facility is required to adopt, implement and enforce the written workplace violence prevention policy to protect health care providers and employees from violent behavior and threats of violent behavior occurring at the facility.
The new law also spells out the obligations of health care facilities to report incidents of workplace violence and to provide post-incident services, including the provision of acute medical treatment. The law also protects employees from retaliation for reporting incidents of workplace violence to law enforcement.
The law provides that Texas licensing agencies can take disciplinary action against any person or facility that violates or fails to comply with the new requirements.
