Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. If you operate a licensed hospital in the State of Vermont. 

July 1, 2025, and no grace period for compliance.

Clarification: All covered hospitals are required to have implemented a comprehensive Workforce Violence Prevention Plan by the deadline. 

House Bill H.259 does not specify penalties for covered hospitals; organizations that fail to comply will likely face significant financial, regulatory, and operational consequences.

Note: Vermont’s legislation follows other states (e.g., California, North Carolina), whose penalties include, but are not limited to, significant fines and loss of licensure for non-compliance. 

NO. 

Workplace violence risks are highly specific to each hospital's unique combination of risk factors, like patient volume, community crime rates, and resource availability.

A generic template cannot adequately address your hospital's vulnerabilities or prescribe relevant, effective control measures, rendering it potentially ineffective and non-compliant in practice. The bill explicitly requires hospitals to conduct individualized risk assessments and develop plans based on their unique circumstances. 

A generic template would need significant modification to address factors like local crime data, staffing levels, and facility layout

Standardize and strengthen protections for healthcare workers by addressing systemic gaps in hospital safety protocols, reducing violence through proactive measures, and fostering safer work environments.

1. Security Risk Assessment: Annual security audit of every hospital facility, including consultation with each department's medical and nursing directors and those hospital employees supervising high-risk areas. Note: Key considerations include, but are not limited to, patient volume, community crime rates, and responsiveness of law enforcement. 
2. Workplace Violence Prevention Program: Site-specific security plans reflecting the company's unique risks, escalation processes, and personnel. (e.g., patient volume, community crime rates, and resource availability.) Note: Plans require input from healthcare workers, law enforcement, and medical/nursing directors.  
3. Workplace Violence Incident Reporting System: Document, track, analyze, and evaluate incidents of workplace violence at the hospital to improve workplace safety, manage aggressive behaviors, risk identification, and prevention planning.
4. Training Program: Annual employee education on the hospital's unique risks, internal processes, personnel, risk identification, de-escalation procedures, and prevention planning is recommended.
5. Mandatory Signage: Hospitals must post notices in conspicuous locations, either electronically or in print, indicating employees do not tolerate unsafe work environments where any type of threatening or aggressive behavior is present. 

We provide hospital executives with confidence and peace of mind, so they can focus on their main priority and mission: Delivering High Quality Patient Care.   

Our team of industry experts is comprised of Police Officers, Court Expert Witnesses, Military Police, and Regulatory Compliance Auditors, and Board Advisors. Priding ourselves on delivering the highest quality reports that meet, if not exceed your regulatory standards, by objectively identify, evaluate, and rank the risks and specific workplace violence hazards unique to your hospital(s). 

Our professionals are trained to recognize subtle environmental, operational, and behavioral indicators of potential violence across diverse industries, ensuring a comprehensive assessment that fully comply with your regulatory requirements for thoroughness and goes beyond obvious threats. 

We provide: 

• An Unbiased Perspective: Identifying risks without internal assumptions or biases.
• Regulatory Understanding: Deep industry knowledge and understanding of regulatory agency's expectations and interpretation H.259's requirements.
• Proven Methodologies: Structured approaches to hazard identification, assessment, and control prioritization honed through experience.
• Cross-Industry Insights: Applying effective prevention strategies learned from various sectors to your unique situation.
• Speed & Efficiency: Conducting the assessment systematically and often more quickly than an untrained internal team.