Workplace violence prevention - New York

Retail Worker Safety Act

New York law aims to prevent the threat of workplace violence in the retail industry. It applies to retail employers with at least 10 retail employees. Employers must:

• Establish a written workplace violence prevention policy. The state Department of Labor will create a model guidance document that employers may use to develop their own policies. The policy must be given to all employees in writing at the time of hire.
• Conduct employee safety training. The state DOL will offer a model training program that employers may adopt. The training must be provided to employees at the time of hire and annually thereafter. Employers with fewer than 50 employees can conduct training every two years following the time of hire. The training must include, at a minimum:
  • Information on the requirements of the workplace safety law;
  • Ways that retail employees may protect themselves when faced with violence from customers or coworkers;
  • De-escalation tactics;
  • Active shooter drills;
  • Emergency procedures;
  • Instruction on the use of security alarms or buttons and related emergency devices;
  • A site-specific list of emergency exits and meeting places in case of emergency;
  • Any additional responsibilities that supervisors may have regarding emergency procedures.
• Provide written notice to employees of the safety policy and the information included in the safety training, both in English and in the language established as the employee’s primary language.
• (Effective January 1, 2027) Install a silent response button that allows employees to request assistance from a security office, manager, or supervisor in case of emergency. The button may be a device installed at an easily accessible location in the facility, or it may be wearable or mobile phone based. If mobile phone based, the silent response button may only be installed on employer-provided equipment.

Citations

• N.Y. Lab. L Chap. 31 Art. 2 Sec. 27e
• 29 USC 654 — Duties of employers and employees (General Duty Clause)
• FAQs - Retail Worker Safety Act

Workplace Violence Prevention Programs for Health Care Facilities

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed Senate Bill 5294B into law on December 12, 2025. This bills amends the New York public health law by requiring health care facilities to develop a violence prevention program. The law applies to general hospitals and nursing homes in the state and becomes effective in September 2026 (280 days from the day it was signed into law). The public health law is amended by adding a new section as follows:

Violence prevention program

• The term “facility” means a general hospital or a nursing home as are defined in Section 2801 of the New York Public Health Law:
  • General hospitals. This includes facilities that provide medical and surgical services to the sick or injured (e.g., hospital, public health center, diagnostic center, treatment center, etc.).
  • Nursing homes. This includes facilities providing nursing care to sick, invalid, infirm, disabled, or convalescent persons in addition to lodging and board.
• Within 12 months of the effective date, every facility must establish a workplace violence prevention program. The purpose a program is to protect health care workers, patients, facility residents, and visitors.
• Beginning January 1, 2027, all general hospitals must conduct, not less than annually, a workplace safety and security assessment and develop a safety and security plan that addresses identified workplace violence threats or hazards. As part of the plan, a general hospital must adopt security measures and policies, including personnel training policies designed to prevent or minimize identified workplace violence threats or hazards and protect employees, patients, and visitors from aggressive or violent behavior, including but not limited to, credible threats, assaults, injuries, and deaths. In conducting the assessment and developing the plan, general hospitals must ensure the active involvement of employees, including the recognized collective bargaining agent or agents, if any, and may do so through established general hospital safety and security committees and existing labor management committees.
• The safety and security assessment must be tailored to the size, complexity, and local geographical factors affecting the general hospital and must identify and consider relevant threats and hazards, including but not limited to workplace violence incident reports and incident logs, concerns or complaints raised by employees, patients, visitors and recognized collective bargaining representatives, safety and security considerations relating to the general hospital's layout and access points, visitor management, and protective factors such as access control, engineering controls to limit violence or protect employees, alarms and communication systems, and other relevant factors, as appropriate to the general hospital. Additionally, the assessment must consider the adequacy of employee training policies and security procedures, including the handling of disruptive or violent patients and other persons. Health care workers regularly assigned to provide security in general hospital settings must be trained regarding the role of security in overall hospital operations.
• Based on the findings and ongoing review of the workplace violence assessment, general hospitals must implement a workplace violence safety and security plan, which must be updated as necessary to address newly identified material risks and changes in conditions. The safety and security plan must specify methods to reduce identified risks, which may include employee training, increased staffing and security, engineering controls such as barriers, lighting, alarms and communication systems, safety equipment, general hospital improvements or modifications, and other appropriate measures relevant to the general hospital. Each general hospital must provide to its employees/collective bargaining representatives:
  • A written detailed summary of the safety and security plan;
  • Information about how to report incidents of workplace violence; and
  • Summaries of the incident log, appropriately redacted to protect the privacy of persons involved in an incident, trends and analysis of relevant data with the general hospital security or safety committee responsible for workplace violence, and ensure that the data is part of the workplace violence assessment process.

Emergency department security

• Large population areas: A general hospital located in a city or county in New York with a population of one million or more will be required to have at least one off-duty law enforcement officer or trained security personnel be present at all times in the emergency department, subject to emergent circumstance in any hospital that requires an adjustment in personnel.
• Smaller population areas: A general hospital located in a city or county in New York with a population less than one million will be required to have at least one off-duty law enforcement officer or trained security personnel on premises at all times in a manner that prioritizes physical presence near, or within close proximity to, the emergency department of such hospital with direct responsibility to the emergency department. This doesn’t t apply to hospitals designated as critical access hospitals, sole community hospitals, or rural emergency hospitals. However, if any such hospital experiences increased rates of violence or abuse of emergency department personnel, by an amount to be determined by the commissioner, evidenced by internal reporting pursuant to the violence prevention program or reports to law enforcement the commissioner will work with the critical access hospital, sole community hospital, or rural emergency hospital to come into compliance with the requirement, to have at least one off-duty law enforcement officer or trained security personnel on premises at all times in a manner that prioritizes physical presence near, or within close proximity to, the emergency department of such hospital with direct responsibility to the emergency department, over a reasonable period of time.

Citations

• S5294B
• NYS Open Legislation

Related information

• Workplace violence prevention - ezExplanation
• Active shooter - ezExplanation
• Workplace violence in health care - ezExplanation
• Workplace violence in retail - ezExplanation