Workplace violence prevention - Ohio

The state of Ohio passed a Healthcare Workplace Safety Act in 2025. It requires hospitals and hospital systems to establish security plans for preventing workplace violence.

• A hospital security plan must include:
  • Establishing a safety team that includes a current or former patient of the hospital or hospital system, and health care employees who provide direct patient care at the hospital or hospital system.
  • Conducting a security risk assessment for each individual hospital, including those that are part of a hospital system. The assessment must consider all high-risk areas such as the emergency department and the psychiatric department, and consult with the directors of those departments. Factors such as trauma level designation, overall patient volume, past incidents of violence against staff, crime rates in the community, and more should be considered.
  • Requiring at least one hospital employee trained in de-escalation tactics to be present at all times in high-risk areas of the hospital.
    • Establishing training requirements for hospital security personnel, including:
    • Use of and response to weapons;
    • Defensive tactics;
    • De-escalation techniques;
    • Appropriate physical restraint and seclusion techniques;
    • Crisis intervention;
    • Trauma-informed approaches;
    • Safely addressing situations involving individuals who pose a risk of self-harm or harm to others.
  • Issuing guidelines for when patients who have demonstrated violence and/or potential for harm to others or self-harm should be accompanied by law enforcement, hospital police, or trained security personnel.
  • Reviewing and evaluating the safety plan annually, updating if necessary, and affirming to the state Department of Health that the plan has been reviewed/updated.
• Hospitals and hospital systems must create a workplace violence incident reporting system. The reporting system must be clearly communicated to all employees and provide guidelines for when and how to report incidents to the employer, security agencies, law enforcement, and others.
• Employers may not discriminate or retaliate against employees who report to or seek assistance from law enforcement, security personnel, or others in response to an incident of workplace violence.
• Hospitals must post notice in public areas advising that threatening or aggressive behavior toward staff will not be tolerated and may result in felony conviction.

Related information

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

Citations

• Ohio Rev. Code 3727.18
• Ohio Rev. Code 3727.181
• Ohio Rev. Code 3727.182
• 29 USC 654 — Duties of employers and employees (General Duty Clause)