Summary — S.1718 (2025) — Health Care Workplace Violence Prevention
Note on source material
- The bill package provided contains conflicting metadata (an initial title about a partial property tax exemption) but the bill text and docket (Senate Docket No. 1639, filed 1/16/2025) are for a Massachusetts measure introduced by Senator Joan B. Lovely et al. that would require health care employers to develop and implement workplace violence prevention programs. This summary treats the substantive text presented (workplace violence prevention) as the bill to be summarized. The legislative record indicates the bill was later substituted by A355C.
Purpose and intent
- To require health care employers in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to assess, prevent, report and respond to workplace violence, and to establish written prevention plans, employee training, incident reporting and crisis response supports for employee-victims.
Key definitions (selected)
- “Employee”: anyone employed by or contracted for employment who provides health care services, volunteers, or participates in instruction at a regulated health care facility.
- “Health care employer”: any person or entity operating a health care facility.
- “Health care facility”: broad list including hospitals (and certain state facilities) but expressly excluding many categories such as nursing homes, clinics, mobile clinics, hospice, ambulatory surgical centers, renal dialysis, certain outpatient therapies, certified home health agencies and temporary nursing agencies. Facilities with multiple licenses are included if at least one license falls within the included categories.
- “Workplace violence”: unpermitted/harmful touching, attempt or use of physical force, or conduct reasonably perceived as intent to injure or use force that would constitute a crime and causes a reasonable fear.
Major provisions
- Annual, facility-specific risk assessments: Each health care employer must perform an annual risk assessment, using standards set by the department (in consultation with the Office of Health Equity) and in cooperation with employees and any labor organizations representing them. The assessment must examine factors that increase violence risk (e.g., public-facing work, late-night shifts, working alone, uncontrolled public access, patients in crisis, understaffing, known security problems).
- Violence prevention program and plan: Employers must develop and implement a program to minimize workplace violence based on the assessment. This includes employee training, ongoing incident reporting/monitoring systems, and mechanisms for reporting to public safety authorities and filing criminal charges.
- Written prevention plan: Employers must prepare a written plan that is made available to employees and to labor organizations (upon written request). The plan must identify risk factors, mitigation methods (training, staffing, security, facility or equipment changes), a post-incident debriefing process, and reporting/monitoring procedures.
- Crisis response and support: A designated senior manager must oversee an in-house crisis response team to support employee-victims. The team must implement an “assaulted staff action program” covering group crisis interventions, individual counseling, and staff support (text truncated in provided copy; additional elements likely follow in full bill).
Who would be affected
- Health care employers and their employees in the facilities covered by the definition (primarily hospitals and certain state-operated acute and non-acute facilities).
- Labor organizations representing health care workers, public safety agencies (via reporting obligations), and state agencies responsible for setting standards and oversight.
Procedural status and timeline (selected)
- Introduced in the Senate: 1/16/2025 (Senate Docket No. 1639).
- Referred to Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee (2/27/2025).
- Hearing scheduled: 4/09/2025.
- Referred/reporting actions: Reported favorably and referred to Senate Ways & Means (7/21/2025).
- House action: House concurred (record shows concurrence 2/27/2025).
- Substituted by A355C on 4/29/2025 (the bill was later replaced by a companion/house bill).
Practical impact and considerations
- Establishes a standardized, facility-specific approach to identifying and mitigating violence risks in covered health care settings.
- Creates obligations for training, documenting and sharing prevention plans, and for providing post-incident support to staff — potentially increasing operational costs (training, staffing, security upgrades) but aimed at reducing injuries, turnover and liability.
- Exclusions in the facility definition mean many long-term care and community-based providers (nursing homes, hospice, home health, dialysis centers, clinics) would not be covered under this specific text.
- The bill requires cooperation with employees and unions, which could improve implementation and worker buy-in but may create negotiation points in unionized settings.
Limitations
- The version provided is truncated; some program implementation, enforcement, reporting frequency, data collection, funding, and penalty provisions — if included in full text — were not available for review. Also, some docket metadata (sponsors) conflicted with the bill text; principal authors in the text include Senator Joan B. Lovely and multiple co-petitioners.
For full text and status tracking, consult the Massachusetts Legislature’s bill page for S.1718 / A355C and the Public Safety and Homeland Security committee records.
