Chapter 397
AN ACT
HB 2022
Relating to health care employers; and declaring an emergency.
Be It Enacted by the People of
the State of
SECTION 1. Sections 2 to 7 of this 2007 Act are added
to and made a part of ORS 654.001 to 654.295.
SECTION 2. As used in sections 2 to 7 of this 2007 Act:
(1) “Assault” means
intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causing physical injury.
(2) “Health care
employer” means:
(a) An ambulatory
surgical center as defined in ORS 442.015.
(b) A hospital as
defined in ORS 442.015.
(3) “Home health care
services” means items or services furnished to a patient by an employee of a
health care employer in a place of temporary or permanent residence used as the
patient’s home.
SECTION 3. (1) A health care employer shall:
(a) Conduct periodic
security and safety assessments to identify existing or potential hazards for
assaults committed against employees;
(b) Develop and
implement an assault prevention and protection program for employees based on assessments
conducted under paragraph (a) of this subsection; and
(c) Provide assault
prevention and protection training on a regular and ongoing basis for
employees.
(2) An assessment
conducted under subsection (1)(a) of this section
shall include, but need not be limited to:
(a) A measure of the
frequency of assaults committed against employees that occur on the premises of
a health care employer or in the home of a patient receiving home health care
services during the preceding five years or for the years that records are
available if fewer than five years of records are available; and
(b) An identification of
the causes and consequences of assaults against employees.
(3) An assault
prevention and protection program developed and implemented by a health care
employer under subsection (1)(b) of this section shall be based on an
assessment conducted under subsection (1)(a) of this section and shall address
security considerations related to the following:
(a) Physical attributes
of the health care setting;
(b) Staffing plans,
including security staffing;
(c) Personnel policies;
(d) First aid and
emergency procedures;
(e) Procedures for
reporting assaults; and
(f) Education and
training for employees.
(4)(a) Assault
prevention and protection training required under subsection (1)(c) of this section shall address the following topics:
(A) General safety and
personal safety procedures;
(B) Escalation cycles
for assaultive behaviors;
(C) Factors that predict
assaultive behaviors;
(D) Techniques for
obtaining medical history from a patient with assaultive behavior;
(E) Verbal and physical
techniques to de-escalate and minimize assaultive behaviors;
(F) Strategies for
avoiding physical harm and minimizing use of restraints;
(G) Restraint techniques
consistent with regulatory requirements;
(H) Self-defense,
including:
(i) The amount of
physical force that is reasonably necessary to protect the employee or a third
person from assault; and
(ii) The use of least
restrictive procedures necessary under the circumstances, in accordance with an
approved behavior management plan, and any other methods of response approved
by the health care employer;
(I) Procedures for
documenting and reporting incidents involving assaultive behaviors;
(J) Programs for post-incident
counseling and follow-up;
(K) Resources available
to employees for coping with assaults; and
(L) The health care
employer’s workplace assault prevention and protection program.
(b) A health care
employer shall provide assault prevention and protection training to a new
employee within 90 days of the employee’s initial hiring date.
(c) A health care
employer may use classes, video recordings, brochures, verbal or written
training or other training that the employer determines to be appropriate,
based on an employee’s job duties, under the assault prevention and protection
program developed by the employer.
SECTION 4. (1) A health care employer shall maintain a
record of assaults committed against employees that occur on the premises of
the health care employer or in the home of a patient receiving home health care
services. The record shall include, but need not be limited to, the following:
(a) The name and address
of the premises on which each assault occurred;
(b) The date, time and
specific location where the assault occurred;
(c) The name, job title
and department or ward assignment of the employee who was assaulted;
(d) A description of the
person who committed the assault as a patient, visitor, employee or other
category;
(e) A description of the
assaultive behavior as:
(A) An assault with mild
soreness, surface abrasions, scratches or small bruises;
(B) An assault with
major soreness, cuts or large bruises;
(C) An assault with
severe lacerations, a bone fracture or a head injury; or
(D) An assault with loss
of limb or death;
(f) An identification of
the physical injury;
(g) A description of any
weapon used;
(h) The number of
employees in the immediate area of the assault when it occurred; and
(i) A description of
actions taken by the employees and the health care employer in response to the
assault.
(2) A health care
employer shall maintain the record of assaults described in subsection (1) of
this section for no fewer than five years following a reported assault.
(3) The Director of the
Department of Consumer and Business Services shall adopt by rule a common
recording form for the purposes of this section.
SECTION 5. If a health care employer directs an
employee who has been assaulted by a patient on the premises of the health care
employer to provide further treatment to the patient, the employee may request
that a second employee accompany the employee when treating the patient. If the
health care employer declines the employee’s request, the health care employer
may not require the employee to treat the patient.
SECTION 6. (1) An employee who provides home health
care services may refuse to treat a patient unless accompanied by a second
employee if, based on the patient’s past behavior or physical or mental
condition, the employee believes that the patient may assault the employee.
(2) An employee who
provides home health care services may refuse to treat a patient unless the
employee is equipped with a communication device that allows the employee to
transmit one-way or two-way messages indicating that the employee is being
assaulted.
SECTION 7. (1) A health care employer may not impose
sanctions against an employee who used physical force in self-defense against
an assault if the health care employer finds that the employee:
(a) Was acting in
self-defense in response to the use or imminent use of physical force;
(b) Used an amount of
physical force that was reasonably necessary to protect the employee or a third
person from assault; and
(c) Used the least restrictive
procedures necessary under the circumstances, in accordance with an approved
behavior management plan, or other methods of response approved by the health
care employer.
(2) As used in this
section, “self-defense” means the use of physical force upon another person in
self-defense or to defend a third person.
SECTION 8. A health care employer that is required to
conduct a periodic security and safety assessment under section 3 of this 2007
Act shall conduct its first assessment no later than April 1, 2008.
SECTION 9. Section 4 of this 2007 Act applies only to
assaults occurring on or after the operative date specified in section 11 of
this 2007 Act.
SECTION 10. (1) No later than January 31, 2009, each
health care employer shall provide to the Director of the Department of
Consumer and Business Services data from the record of assaults compiled under
section 4 of this 2007 Act for assaults occurring in 2008.
(2) The director shall
adopt rules for the reporting of data under subsection (1) of this section. The
rules:
(a) May not require
health care employers to report the names of employees who have been assaulted
or the names of patients who have committed assaults; and
(b) Shall conform with
state and federal laws relating to confidentiality and the protection of health
information.
(3) No later than April
30, 2009, the director shall analyze the data received under subsection (1) of
this section and report the findings to the Seventy-fifth Legislative Assembly.
(4) Nothing in this
section restricts the director’s access to or use of information or records
otherwise required or permitted under the
SECTION 11. Except as provided in section 12 of this
2007 Act, sections 2 to 7 of this 2007 Act become operative on January 1, 2008.
SECTION 12. The Director of the Department of Consumer
and Business Services may take any action before the operative date of sections
2 to 7 of this 2007 Act that is necessary to enable the director to exercise,
on and after the operative date of sections 2 to 7 of this 2007 Act, all the
duties, functions and powers conferred on the director by this 2007 Act.
SECTION 13. This 2007 Act being necessary for the
immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an emergency is
declared to exist, and this 2007 Act takes effect July 1, 2007.
Approved by the Governor June 13, 2007
Filed in the office of Secretary of State June 13, 2007
Effective date July 1, 2007
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