(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.

(5) At least once every two years, a health care employer shall establish, in coordination with the health care employer’s workplace safety committee as described in ORS 654.176, a process by which the committee shall review the health care employer’s assault prevention and protection program developed and implemented under subsection (1)(b) of this section in order to evaluate the efficacy of the program and consider any changes to the program. [2007 c.397 §3; 2019 c.350 §4]

Note: Sections 1 and 2, chapter 350, Oregon Laws 2019, provide:

Sec. 1. Health care employer to conduct security and safety evalutaion; reporting requirements. (1)(a) Not later than June 30, 2021, a health care employer shall conduct a comprehensive security and safety evaluation to identify factors that may cause violence committed against employees on the premises of a health care employer.

(b) The health care employer shall conduct the evaluation using a state or nationally recognized workplace violence prevention toolkit designed to reduce violence against health care employees.

(2)(a) Not later than December 31, 2021, each health care employer in this state shall report to the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services as to whether the employer has conducted the evaluation required under subsection (1) of this section.

(b) Not later than March 22, 2022, the director shall compile the reports submitted by each health care employer and submit a report summarizing health care employer compliance with this section to the committees of the Legislative Assembly related to health care.

(3) As used in this section, "health care employer" has the meaning given that term in ORS 654.412. [2019 c.350 §1]

Sec. 2. Section 1 of this 2019 Act is repealed on June 30, 2022. [2019 c.350 §2]