Certain hospitals, hospice and home care agencies, evaluation and treatment facilities, and community mental health agencies, referred to collectively as "health care settings" must develop and implement plans to prevent and protect employees from violence.? If the health care setting has a safety committee required by the Washington Industrial Safety and Health Act or other workplace violence committee, the committee is responsible for developing, implementing, and monitoring progress on the plan.? The plan must outline strategies aimed at addressing security considerations and factors that may contribute to or prevent the risk of violence.? A health care setting must conduct annual reviews of the frequency of incidents of workplace violence, including identifying causes for and consequences of, violent acts at the setting and any emerging issues that contribute to workplace violence.? The health care setting must make any necessary adjustments based on the annual review.? Plans must be developed and implemented every three years.?

?

Health care settings must maintain a record of any violent act against an employee, patient, or visitor.? Records must be kept for at least five years, and must be available for inspection by the Department of Labor & Industries.? Health care settings must provide violence prevention training on a regular basis to all affected employees, volunteers, and contracted security personnel.? The training must cover certain topics identified in state law.?? ?

?

"Workplace violence," "violence," or "violent act" means any physical assault or verbal threat of physical assault against an employee of a health care setting on the property of the health care setting.? It includes any physical assault or verbal threat of physical assault involving the use of a weapon, including a firearm as defined in RCW 9.41.010, or a common object used as a weapon, regardless of whether the use of a weapon resulted in an injury.?

Health care settings must conduct a timely investigation of every workplace violence incident.? An investigation must include an assessment aimed at identifying factors contributing to or causing workplace violence, including an assessment of:

• the details of the incident, such as the date, time, location, and nature of the conduct and harm;
• the details of any response and related remediation to prevent future incidents; and
• if applicable, a comparison of the actual staffing levels to the planned staffing levels at the time of incident.

?

A health care setting must submit a report to its safety committee or workplace violence committee at least quarterly, unless the setting is a critical access hospital, in which case it must submit a report at least twice per year.? The report must include:?

• a summary of the records collected for each incident and the findings of any investigations during the relevant time period, with any personal information deidentified in compliance with federal law;
• a summary and analysis of any systemic and common causes of the workplace violence incidents; and
• recommendations for modifying the workplace violence prevention plan.?

?

Health care settings must conduct a comprehensive review and update of workplace violence prevention plans at least once per year.? Any updates to the plan must take into account the findings and recommendations of the quarterly report on workplace violence incidents required by the bill.?