Oregon Legislature Passes Workplace Violence Prevention Bill!

Success! Our workplace violence prevention bill passed the 2025 legislature! Thanks to consistent member support and engagement, Senate Bill 537 (SB 537) will become law on January 1, 2026. 

SB 537 focuses on pragmatic, prevention-oriented solutions that protect frontline nurses and caregivers in hospitals and in home health and hospice settings. The bill-turned-law will ensure. 

• A definition of workplace violence is included in state law. 
• Health care employers must provide annual workplace violence prevention training to employees and any contracted security personnel.  
• Workers have the right to have only their first name on an worker badge in hospitals, home health agencies, and home hospice programs. 
• Hospitals, home health agencies, and hospice programs must set up “flagging” systems for potentially violent individuals. 
• New or remodeled emergency departments must install bullet-resistant barriers or enclosures at the intake window.  
• Home health care entities must collect information at intake to identify and assess health and safety-related risks.  
• Improved responses to workplace violence when it occurs by utilizing trauma-informed care and stronger reporting.

“I applaud the work by our state legislature and the thousands of frontline caregivers who spoke out on this important legislation,” said Richard Botterill, a nurse from Providence Portland Medical Center. “SB 537 is another critical contribution to promoting safety for all of us on the frontlines of healthcare and will go a long way to maintaining a safe workplace for the people who care for Oregonians. While our work to improve our healthcare system is never done, a safer workplace means safer staffing levels so patients can get the care they need and deserve.” 

The Problem: Workplace Violence 

Far too many healthcare workers regularly report experiencing violence. The raw statistics are sobering. Healthcare workers are 5 times more likely to experience workplace violence injuries than other workers. 1 in 4 nurses are physically assaulted every year and many nurses feel unsafe and unsupported at work. Yet statistics don’t tell the real story. We know workplace violence is dramatically under-reported. For decades, it was a silent epidemic managers and even many workers shrugged off as “just part of the job”. As workplace violence against healthcare workers continues to increase, we have reached a tipping point. We must take collective action now to address this public health crisis and protect ourselves, our patients and our colleagues.

Quick Click Resources

Don’t wait to get help. Learn more about workplace protections, reporting violence, receiving support after a violent incident, as well as educational materials. 

Current Protections

• Oregon Law: Anti-Retaliation 
• Oregon Law: Refusal to treat certain patients by home health care employee. 
• Oregon Law: Requires health care employer to conduct comprehensive security and safety evaluation using state or nationally recognized workplace violence prevention toolkit
• OSHA Safety Committee Rule 
• CMS and Joint Commission Requirements to Prevent Workplace Violence in Hospitals
• The Joint Commission R3 for WPV

Reporting

• OSHA Complaint Form in English and Spanish.
• CMS/OHA Complaint Form
• ONA Grievance Form

After Incident Support

• Ombuds Office for Oregon Workers: Free and unbiased advocate for workers. 
• Oregon Wellness Program: Offers confidential mental health care at no cost, without a referral. 
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP): Employer specific, reach out to HR or direct supervisor for access and summary of benefits.
• Worker’s Compensation

Education Offerings

• ANA Workplace Violence Prevention: focused on education to support prevention efforts. 
• NIOSH training program for nurses

Additional Resources 

• Oregon Workplace Safety Initiative Toolkit: Comprehensive and collaborative toolkit to develop, implement and evaluate meaningful workplace violence prevention programs. 
• Oregon Workplace Violence Additional Resource Guide
• OSHA Guidelines
• AFT Code Red Root Cause Analyses

Supporting Research

Workplace violence is any act or threat of physical assault, threatening behavior, or verbal abuse that occurs at a work site, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) . Violence can affect employees, clients, customers and visitors, and includes behaviors ranging from verbal harassment to murder. Workplace violence occurs in many types of health care settings – medical/surgical floors, emergency rooms, ambulatory care offices, and behavioral health units.

Health care and social assistance workers are five times more likely to be assaulted than workers generally. The health care and social assistance sector accounted for 73 percent of all nonfatal workplace assaults in the U.S. in 2021-2022 (Bureau of Labor Statistics).  This amounted to over 14 incidents per 10,000 workers – a far higher rate than for all industries taken together (3 incidents per 10,000 workers). Sixty-nine percent of incidents required workers to take days away from work. Violence at work is likely far greater than the available data shows due to inadequate reporting systems and workers’ fear of isolation, embarrassment, and reprisal (Richardson, 2018).

Violence in the workplace can raise costs for employers, such as workers compensation contributions, liability insurance premiums, staff turnover, and other impacts (Liberty Mutual, 2022).  

• Workplace Violence Prevention Toolkit
• Preventing Workplace Violence: Information from Federal OSHA
• ONA Success Story: Providence Seaside Hospital
• ONA Success Story: Peace Harbor Hospital