Regulations to Protect Healthcare Workers in Oregon and New York Get Closer to Taking Effect

Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has proposed regulations related to violence in healthcare settings. In 2025 Oregon became the latest state to pass legislation—Oregon SB 537—designed to protect workers in healthcare settings from violence. The Oregon OSHA regulations, which are open for public comment through the end of August, describe how the law will be enforced and what healthcare employers need to do to comply.

The law is an update of previous protections for healthcare workers and expanded to include home health and hospice workers. The regulation will affect the 62 hospitals, 91 ambulatory surgical centers, 65 home health agencies, and 74 home hospice programs currently operating in Oregon.

The previous law addressed “assaults” specifically, and the new law addresses “workplace violence,” which is a broader category that includes assaults, any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, homicide, or any other threatening behavior in a workplace.

According to the Oregon OSHA website, healthcare employers must:

• Conduct periodic security and safety assessments to identify existing threats of workplace violence
• Develop and implement a workplace violence prevention and protection program based on assessments
• Provide workplace violence prevention and protection training on an annual basis

According to the Oregon Nurses Association, 92 percent of its members reported incidents of violence in 2024, and research from the Oregon Journalism Project noted nursing and residential care facilities are by far the most dangerous workplaces in the state (accounting for 37.4 percent), followed by couriers and messengers (15 percent), public transit or rideshare (11.7 percent), hospitals (9.1 percent), roofing contractors (7.1 percent), and police protection (6.4 percent). Forestry and logging was even further down the list at 4.2 percent while construction accounted for 3.5 percent. 

Oregon is not alone in taking actions to try to prevent workplace violence in healthcare settings. Beginning 1 January 2027, hospitals and nursing homes in New York will be required to conduct annual workplace safety and security assessments that include evaluations of workplace violence threats and hazards, employee training policies, existing security procedures, and procedures for addressing violent or disruptive patients and other persons.

They must then use that assessment to develop and implement workplace violence safety and security plans. Large healthcare groups with facilities at multiple locations will need to complete the assessments and plans for each location.

The New York law also has several other specifications, including a requirement that hospitals in highly populated areas must have a trained security officer present at or near the emergency department at all times.

Violence in healthcare facilities continues to be a major concern to those who work in them, particularly nurses. Tension and stress levels are often high in hospitals and other health settings, and, in general such settings must accommodate public access, all of which can create volatile situations.

There are no U.S. federal laws or regulations that address workplace violence specifically in healthcare settings, with U.S. OSHA’s General Duty Clause being the primary federal law in this area. Some states have stepped into this legislative void. Before Oregon and New York, California pioneered the way with its 2016 law requiring healthcare employers to log violent incidents and develop workplace violence prevention programs. Beginning last year,  Virginia required incident reporting from hospitals and mandated workplace violence prevention training, including de-escalation training.

Washington, Minnesota, and New Jersey have all enacated similar legislation designed specifically to protect the security and safety of healthcare workers.