NJ’s healthcare violence prevention law: compliance and effectiveness
Healthcare workers make it their job to help others, yet face a significant risk of workplace violence ranging from intimidation to physical attacks. In fact, compared with workers in all other industries combined, healthcare workers are nearly 5 times more likely to encounter workplace violence. NIOSH strives to protect these workers by studying the causes and prevention of violence in healthcare.
As the fastest-growing sector of the United States economy, healthcare employs more than 18 million workers, most of whom are women. More than half of all nonfatal assaults in private industry occur in healthcare, usually by patients. In an ongoing study addressing this serious and persistent problem, NIOSH investigators with university and union partners are measuring compliance with the New Jersey Violence Prevention in Health Care Facilities Act, which became law in 2008; the regulations became effective September 6, 2011. The law requires healthcare facilities in the state to establish a comprehensive workplace-violence prevention program, which includes a multidisciplinary workplace violence prevention committee, written violence prevention policies and procedures that is specific to their facilities, and employee training. Although New Jersey joins several other states with similar laws, it is unclear whether the laws are effective at reducing violence against healthcare workers.