§ 27-B — Duty of public employers to develop and implement programs to prevent workplace violence

§ 27-b. Duty of public employers to develop and implement programs to\nprevent workplace violence. 1. Purpose. The purpose of this section is\nto ensure that the risk of workplace assaults and homicides is evaluated\nby affected public employers and their employees and that such employers\ndesign and implement workplace violence protection programs to prevent\nand minimize the hazard of workplace violence to public employees.\n 2. Definitions. For the purposes of this section:\n a. "Employer" means: (1) the state; (2) a political subdivision of the\nstate; (3) a public authority, a public benefit corporation, or any\nother governmental agency or instrumentality thereof; and (4) an\nauthorized agency as defined in paragraph (a) of subdivision ten of\nsection three hundred seventy-one of the social services law that\naccepts children adjudicated delinquent under article three of the\nfamily court act.\n b. "Employee" means a public employee working for an employer.\n c. "Workplace" means any location away from an employee's domicile,\npermanent or temporary, where an employee performs any work-related duty\nin the course of his or her employment by an employer.\n d. "Supervisor" means any person within an employer's organization who\nhas the authority to direct and control the work performance of an\nemployee, or who has the authority to take corrective action regarding\nthe violation of a law, rule or regulation to which an employee submits\nwritten notice.\n e. "Retaliatory action" means the discharge, suspension, demotion,\npenalization, or discrimination against any employee, or other adverse\nemployment action taken against an employee in the terms and conditions\nof employment.\n 3. Risk evaluation and determination. Every employer shall evaluate\nits workplace or workplaces to determine the presence of factors or\nsituations in such workplace or workplaces that might place employees at\nrisk of occupational assaults and homicides. Examples of such factors\nshall include, but not limited to:\n a. working in public settings (e.g., social services or other\ngovernmental workers, police officers, firefighters, teachers, public\ntransportation drivers, health care workers, and service workers);\n b. working late night or early morning hours;\n c. exchanging money with the public;\n d. working alone or in small numbers;\n e. uncontrolled access to the workplace; and\n f. areas of previous security problems.\n 4. Written workplace violence prevention program. Every employer with\nat least twenty full time permanent employees shall develop and\nimplement a written workplace violence prevention program for its\nworkplace or workplaces that includes the following:\n a. a list of the risk factors identified in subdivision three of this\nsection that are present in such workplace or workplaces;\n b. the methods the employer will use to prevent incidents of\noccupational assaults and homicides at such workplace or workplaces,\nincluding but not limited to the following:\n (1) making high-risk areas more visible to more people;\n (2) installing good external lighting;\n (3) using drop safes or other methods to minimize cash on hand;\n (4) posting signs stating that limited cash is on hand;\n (5) providing training in conflict resolution and nonviolent\nself-defense responses; and\n (6) establishing and implementing reporting systems for incidents of\naggressive behavior.\n 5. Employee information and training. a. Every employer with at least\ntwenty permanent full time employees shall make the written workplace\nviolence prevention program available, upon request, to its employees,\ntheir designated representatives and the department.\n b. Every employer shall provide its employees with the following\ninformation and training on the risks of occupational assaults and\nhomicides in their workplace or workplaces at the time of their initial\nassignment and annually thereafter:\n (1) employees shall be informed of the requirements of this section,\nthe risk factors in their workplace or workplaces, and the location and\navailability of the written workplace violence prevention program\nrequired by this section; and\n (2) employee training shall include at least: (a) the measures\nemployees can take to protect themselves from such risks, including\nspecific procedures the employer has implemented to protect employees,\nsuch as appropriate work practices, emergency procedures, use of\nsecurity alarms and other devices, and (b) the details of the written\nworkplace violence prevention program developed by the employer.\n 6. Application. a. Any employee or representative of employees who\nbelieves that a serious violation of a workplace violence protection\nprogram exists or that an imminent danger exists shall bring such matter\nto the attention of a supervisor in the form of a written notice and\nshall afford the employer a reasonable opportunity to correct such\nactivity, policy or practice. This referral shall not apply where\nimminent danger or threat exists to the safety of a specific employee or\nto the general health of a specific patient and the employee reasonably\nbelieves in good faith that reporting to a supervisor would not result\nin corrective action.\n b. If following a referral of such matter to the employee's\nsupervisor's attention and after a reasonable opportunity to correct\nsuch activity, policy or practice the matter has not been resolved and\nthe employee or representative of employees still believes that a\nviolation of a workplace violence prevention program remains, or that an\nimminent danger exists, such employee or representative of employees may\nrequest an inspection by giving notice to the commissioner of such\nviolation or danger. Such notice and request shall be in writing, shall\nset forth with reasonable particularity the grounds for the notice,\nshall be signed by such employee or representative of employees, and a\ncopy shall be provided by the commissioner to the employer or the person\nin charge no later than the time of inspection, except that on the\nrequest of the person giving such notice, such person's name and the\nnames of individual employees or representatives of employees shall be\nwithheld. Such inspection shall be made forthwith.\n c. A representative of the employer and an authorized employee\nrepresentative shall be given the opportunity to accompany the\ncommissioner during an inspection for the purpose of aiding such\ninspection. Where there is no authorized employee representative, the\ncommissioner shall consult with a reasonable number of employees\nconcerning matters of safety in the workplace.\n d. The authority of the commissioner to inspect a premises pursuant to\nsuch an employee complaint shall not be limited to the alleged violation\ncontained in such complaint. The commissioner may inspect any other area\nof the premises in which he or she has reason to believe that a serious\nviolation of this section exists.\n d-1. No employee who accompanies the commissioner on an inspection,\nparticipates in a risk evaluation and determination inspection, or\nparticipates in an annual program review shall suffer any reduction in\nwages.\n e. No employer shall take retaliatory action against any employee\nbecause the employee does any of the following:\n (1) makes an application pursuant to paragraph a of this subdivision;\n (2) requests an inspection as authorized in paragraph b of this\nsubdivision;\n (3) accompanies the commissioner as authorized in paragraph c of this\nsubdivision;\n f. The commissioner may, upon his or her own initiative, conduct an\ninspection of any premises occupied by an employer if he or she has\nreason to believe that a violation of this section has occurred or if he\nor she has a general administrative plan for the enforcement of this\nsection, including a general schedule of inspections, which provide a\nrational administrative basis for such inspecting. Within one hundred\ntwenty days of the effective date of this paragraph the commissioner\nshall adopt rules and regulations implementing the provisions of this\nsection.\n g. Any information obtained by the commissioner pursuant to this\nsubdivision shall be obtained with a minimum burden upon the employers.\n h. When a request for an inspection has been made in a situation where\nthere is an allegation of an imminent danger such that an employee would\nbe subjecting himself or herself to serious injury or death because of\nthe hazardous condition in the workplace, the inspection shall be given\nthe highest priority by the department and shall be carried out\nimmediately.\n