2023 Minnesota Statutes

144.566 VIOLENCE AGAINST HEALTH CARE WORKERS.

Subdivision 1.Definitions.

(a) The following definitions apply to this section and have the meanings given.

(b) "Act of violence" means an act by a patient or visitor against a health care worker that includes kicking, scratching, urinating, sexually harassing, or any act defined in sections 609.221 to 609.2241.

(c) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of health.

(d) "Health care worker" means any person, whether licensed or unlicensed, employed by, volunteering in, or under contract with a hospital, who has direct contact with a patient of the hospital for purposes of either medical care or emergency response to situations potentially involving violence.

(e) "Hospital" means any facility licensed as a hospital under section 144.55.

(f) "Incident response" means the actions taken by hospital administration and health care workers during and following an act of violence.

(g) "Interfere" means to prevent, impede, discourage, or delay a health care worker's ability to report acts of violence, including by retaliating or threatening to retaliate against a health care worker.

(h) "Preparedness" means the actions taken by hospital administration and health care workers to prevent a single act of violence or acts of violence generally.

(i) "Retaliate" means to discharge, discipline, threaten, otherwise discriminate against, or penalize a health care worker regarding the health care worker's compensation, terms, conditions, location, or privileges of employment.

(j) "Workplace violence hazards" means locations and situations where violent incidents are more likely to occur, including, as applicable, but not limited to locations isolated from other health care workers; health care workers working alone; health care workers working in remote locations; health care workers working late night or early morning hours; locations where an assailant could prevent entry of responders or other health care workers into a work area; locations with poor illumination; locations with poor visibility; lack of effective escape routes; obstacles and impediments to accessing alarm systems; locations within the facility where alarm systems are not operational; entryways where unauthorized entrance may occur, such as doors designated for staff entrance or emergency exits; presence, in the areas where patient contact activities are performed, of furnishings or objects that could be used as weapons; and locations where high-value items, currency, or pharmaceuticals are stored.

Subd. 2.Action plans and action plan reviews required.

All hospitals must design and implement preparedness and incident response action plans to acts of violence by January 15, 2016, and review and update the plan at least annually thereafter. The plan must be in writing; specific to the workplace violence hazards and corrective measures for the units, services, or operations of the hospital; and available to health care workers at all times.

Subd. 3.Action plan committees.

A hospital shall designate a committee of representatives of health care workers employed by the hospital, including nonmanagerial health care workers, nonclinical staff, administrators, patient safety experts, and other appropriate personnel to develop preparedness and incident response action plans to acts of violence. The hospital shall, in consultation with the designated committee, implement the plans under subdivision 2. Nothing in this subdivision shall require the establishment of a separate committee solely for the purpose required by this subdivision.

Subd. 4.Required elements of action plans; generally.

The preparedness and incident response action plans to acts of violence must include:

(1) effective procedures to obtain the active involvement of health care workers and their representatives in developing, implementing, and reviewing the plan, including their participation in identifying, evaluating, and correcting workplace violence hazards, designing and implementing training, and reporting and investigating incidents of workplace violence;

(2) names or job titles of the persons responsible for implementing the plan; and

(3) effective procedures to ensure that supervisory and nonsupervisory health care workers comply with the plan.

Subd. 5.Required elements of action plans; evaluation of risk factors.

(a) The preparedness and incident response action plans to acts of violence must include assessment procedures to identify and evaluate workplace violence hazards for each facility, unit, service, or operation, including community-based risk factors and areas surrounding the facility, such as employee parking areas and other outdoor areas. Procedures shall specify the frequency that environmental assessments take place.

(b) The preparedness and incident response action plans to acts of violence must include assessment tools, environmental checklists, or other effective means to identify workplace violence hazards.

Subd. 6.Required elements of action plans; review of workplace violence incidents.

The preparedness and incident response action plans to acts of violence must include procedures for reviewing all workplace violence incidents that occurred in the facility, unit, service, or operation within the previous year, whether or not an injury occurred.

Subd. 7.Required elements of action plans; reporting workplace violence.

The preparedness and incident response action plans to acts of violence must include:

(1) effective procedures for health care workers to document information regarding conditions that may increase the potential for workplace violence incidents and communicate that information without fear of reprisal to other health care workers, shifts, or units;

(2) effective procedures for health care workers to report a violent incident, threat, or other workplace violence concern without fear of reprisal;

(3) effective procedures for the hospital to accept and respond to reports of workplace violence and to prohibit retaliation against a health care worker who makes such a report;

(4) a policy statement stating the hospital will not prevent a health care worker from reporting workplace violence or take punitive or retaliatory action against a health care worker for doing so;

(5) effective procedures for investigating health care worker concerns regarding workplace violence or workplace violence hazards;

(6) procedures for informing health care workers of the results of the investigation arising from a report of workplace violence or from a concern about a workplace violence hazard and of any corrective actions taken;

(7) effective procedures for obtaining assistance from the appropriate law enforcement agency or social service agency during all work shifts. The procedure may establish a central coordination procedure; and

(8) a policy statement stating the hospital will not prevent a health care worker from seeking assistance and intervention from local emergency services or law enforcement when a violent incident occurs or take punitive or retaliatory action against a health care worker for doing so.

Subd. 8.Required elements of action plans; coordination with other employers.

The preparedness and incident response action plans to acts of violence must include methods the hospital will use to coordinate implementation of the plan with other employers whose employees work in the same health care facility, unit, service, or operation and to ensure that those employers and their employees understand their respective roles as provided in the plan. These methods must ensure that all employees working in the facility, unit, service, or operation are provided the training required by subdivision 10 and that workplace violence incidents involving any employee are reported, investigated, and recorded.

Subd. 9.Required elements of action plans; training.

(a) The preparedness and incident response action plans to acts of violence must include:

(1) procedures for developing and providing the training required in subdivision 10 that permits health care workers and their representatives to participate in developing the training; and

(2) a requirement for cultural competency training and equity, diversity, and inclusion training.

(b) The preparedness and incident response action plans to acts of violence must include procedures to communicate with health care workers regarding workplace violence matters, including:

(1) how health care workers will document and communicate to other health care workers and between shifts and units information regarding conditions that may increase the potential for workplace violence incidents;

(2) how health care workers can report a violent incident, threat, or other workplace violence concern;

(3) how health care workers can communicate workplace violence concerns without fear of reprisal; and

(4) how health care worker concerns will be investigated, and how health care workers will be informed of the results of the investigation and any corrective actions to be taken.

Subd. 10.Training required.

A hospital must provide training to all health care workers employed or contracted with the hospital on safety during acts of violence. Each health care worker must receive safety training during the health care worker's orientation and before the health care worker completes a shift independently, and annually thereafter. Training must, at a minimum, include:

(1) safety guidelines for response to and de-escalation of an act of violence;

(2) ways to identify potentially violent or abusive situations, including aggression and violence predicting factors;

(3) the hospital's preparedness and incident response action plans for acts of violence, including how the health care worker may report concerns about workplace violence within each hospital's reporting structure without fear of reprisal, how the hospital will address workplace violence incidents, and how the health care worker can participate in reviewing and revising the plan; and

(4) any resources available to health care workers for coping with incidents of violence, including but not limited to critical incident stress debriefing or employee assistance programs.

Subd. 11.Annual review and update of action plans.

(a) As part of its annual review of preparedness and incident response action plans required under subdivision 2, the hospital must review with the designated committee:

(1) the effectiveness of its preparedness and incident response action plans, including the sufficiency of security systems, alarms, emergency responses, and security personnel availability;

(2) security risks associated with specific units, areas of the facility with uncontrolled access, late night shifts, early morning shifts, and areas surrounding the facility such as employee parking areas and other outdoor areas;

(3) the most recent gap analysis as provided by the commissioner;

(4) the number of acts of violence that occurred in the hospital during the previous year, including injuries sustained, if any, and the unit in which the incident occurred;

(5) evaluations of staffing, including staffing patterns and patient classification systems that contribute to, or are insufficient to address, the risk of violence; and

(6) any reports of discrimination or abuse that arise from security resources, including from the behavior of security personnel.

(b) As part of the annual update of preparedness and incident response action plans required under subdivision 2, the hospital must incorporate corrective actions into the action plan to address workplace violence hazards identified during the annual action plan review, reports of workplace violence, reports of workplace violence hazards, and reports of discrimination or abuse that arise from the security resources.

Subd. 12.Action plan updates.

Following the annual review of the action plan, a hospital must update the action plans to reflect the corrective actions the hospital will implement to mitigate the hazards and vulnerabilities identified during the annual review.

Subd. 13.Requests for additional staffing.

A hospital shall create and implement a procedure for a health care worker to officially request of hospital supervisors or administration that additional staffing be provided. The hospital must document all requests for additional staffing made because of a health care worker's concern over a risk of an act of violence. If the request for additional staffing to reduce the risk of violence is denied, the hospital must provide the health care worker who made the request a written reason for the denial and must maintain documentation of that communication with the documentation of requests for additional staffing. A hospital must make documentation regarding staffing requests available to the commissioner for inspection at the commissioner's request. The commissioner may use documentation regarding staffing requests to inform the commissioner's determination on whether the hospital is providing adequate staffing and security to address acts of violence, and may use documentation regarding staffing requests if the commissioner imposes a penalty under subdivision 17.

Subd. 14.Disclosure of action plans.

(a) A hospital must make its most recent action plans and most recent action plan reviews available to local law enforcement, all direct care staff and, if any of its workers are represented by a collective bargaining unit, to the exclusive bargaining representatives of those collective bargaining units.

(b) Beginning January 1, 2025, a hospital must annually submit to the commissioner its most recent action plan and the results of the most recent annual review conducted under subdivision 11.

Subd. 15.Legislative report required.

(a) Beginning January 15, 2026, the commissioner must compile the information into a single annual report and submit the report to the chairs and ranking minority members of the legislative committees with jurisdiction over health care by January 15 of each year.

(b) This subdivision does not expire.

Subd. 16.Interference prohibited.

A hospital, including any individual, partner, association, or any person or group of persons acting directly or indirectly in the interest of the hospital, must not interfere with or discourage a health care worker if the health care worker wishes to contact law enforcement or the commissioner regarding an act of violence.

Subd. 17.Penalties.

Notwithstanding section 144.653, subdivision 6, the commissioner may impose a fine of up to $10,000 for failure to comply with the requirements of this section. The commissioner must allow the hospital at least 30 calendar days to correct a violation of this section before assessing a fine.

History:

2015 c 71 art 8 s 25; 2023 c 75 s 6