Federal workplace violence standard mandates safety plans for health care workers

What it does

This bill directs the Secretary of Labor to create a federal workplace violence prevention standard for health care and social service workers within one year. Covered employers must develop written violence prevention plans, conduct risk assessments, implement safety controls, train employees, investigate incidents, and maintain records. The standard applies to hospitals, nursing homes, mental health clinics, home health services, and similar facilities. Employers who fail to comply face OSHA enforcement and penalties. The bill also requires Medicare-participating hospitals and skilled nursing facilities not covered by OSHA to follow the same standard.

Why we flagged it

The bill's operative mechanism is a mandatory occupational safety standard requiring employers to develop violence prevention plans, conduct risk assessments, and implement controls. It is a regulatory mandate on employers, not a subsidy, carve-out, or commemorative measure.

What the text implies

• The bill exempts private physician offices not located within covered facilities, creating a gap in coverage for workers in standalone medical practices who may face similar violence risks.
• The standard applies to Medicare-participating hospitals and skilled nursing facilities even if they are not otherwise subject to OSHA, extending federal authority over facilities that may have previously operated under lighter state-level oversight.
• Employers must report annual summaries of violent incidents to the Secretary, creating a national database of workplace violence in health care—potentially useful for research but also exposing facility-level incident data.
• The bill requires in-person training by knowledgeable individuals, which may increase compliance costs for small or rural providers with limited access to specialized trainers.
• Anti-retaliation protections are enforceable under OSHA mechanisms, but enforcement depends on worker awareness and willingness to file complaints, which may be limited in facilities with power imbalances.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Health care and social service workers face documented high rates of workplace violence. This bill creates enforceable safety standards, mandatory incident investigation, worker participation in plan development, and anti-retaliation protections—all mechanisms that shift power toward workers and away from employer discretion. Workers gain the right to report violence without fear of retaliation and to participate in safety decisions.

Who stands to gain

• occupational safety consultants and trainers
• security system vendors (alarm systems, access controls, weapon detectors)
• workplace violence prevention specialists
• legal and compliance consulting firms

Named in the bill

Secretary of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Department of Labor, Health care and social service employers, Medicare-participating hospitals and skilled nursing facilities, Health care workers and social service workers, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

Where it stands

134 cosponsors: 129 Democrats, 5 Republicans.

• Apr 1, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Apr 1, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means and House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and…”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

13 lobbying clients named this bill on 20 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $3,908,452 in lobbying spend. A filing names 30 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 94% of bills with at least one filing.

Joe Courtney, the sponsor, reported $451,500 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies — $1,005,758 on 2 filings
• American Association of Nurse Practitioners — $950,000 on 2 filings
• American Speech-language-hearing Association — $680,000 on 2 filings
• American College of Emergency Physicians — $468,727 on 1 filing
• American Nurses Association — $270,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 22, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.