Effective this past April 1, 2017, healthcare employers in California must comply with a host of new workplace safety requirements focused on preventing workplace violence. The new regulation, section 3342 of Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations, Cal/OSHA’s Violence Prevention in Health Care, requires specified healthcare facilities to establish workplace violence prevention plans to protect healthcare personnel from aggressive and violent behavior. The scope of this regulation affects almost all healthcare facilities, medical groups and other care facilities, including senior care centers, nursing homes and retirement homes
The new requirements apply to all health facilities to which persons are admitted for a 24-hour stay or longer, including hospital-based outpatient clinics; home healthcare and home-based hospice; emergency medical services and medical transport; drug treatment programs; and outpatient medical services, including dental clinics, to the incarcerated in correctional and detention settings. This new regulation does not apply to most outpatient dental offices.