California SB 1299 was signed into law on September 29, 2014. It requires the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board, no later than July 1, 2016, to adopt standards developed by the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH, better known as Cal/OSHA). The standards require specified types of hospitals, including general acute care hospitals and acute psychiatric hospitals (but excluding hospitals operated by the State Department of State Hospitals, the State Department of Developmental Services, or the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation), to adopt a workplace violence prevention plan as a part of the hospital’s injury and illness prevention plan to protect health care workers and other facility personnel from aggressive and violent behavior. The bill requires the standards to include the following requirements for the plan:
  • Policies that require all health care workers who provide direct care to patients to, at least annually, receive education, training, and the opportunity to discuss questions and answers with a person knowledgeable about the workplace violence prevention plan.
  • Staff training in how to recognize potential for violence and when and how to seek assistance to prevent or respond to violence.
  • Employee resources for coping with incidents of violence, including, but not limited to critical incident stress debriefing and an employee assistance program (debriefing).
  • Information on how to report violent incidents to law enforcement (documentation).
  • A system for responding to and investigating violent incidents and situations involving violence or the risk of violence.

The bill also requires the division, by January 1, 2017, and annually thereafter, to post a report on its website containing specified information regarding violent incidents in California hospitals.

Does Your Facility Comply With SB 1299?
CPI can help your facility meet California’s requirements. Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® training empowers staff with prevention and de-escalation skills to reduce violence and assaults. It also equips staff with education in recognizing the warning signs of escalating behavior, responding to violent incidents, using Personal Safety Techniques℠, and enhancing person-centered, trauma-informed care. With a focus on prevention, training is flexible and can be tailored to your facility’s needs. With our train-the-trainer option, select staff can be certified to teach the program to other staff on a continuing basis.
 
How to Get Training
We can bring the Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® training program on site to your facility, or you can attend training in one of more than 150 public locations throughout the US.
 
Learn more about workplace violence prevention.