2023 New York Laws › LAB - Labor › Article 2 - The Department of Labor › 27-B - Duty of Public Employers to Develop and Implement Programs to Prevent Workplace Violence.

§  27-b. Duty of public employers to develop and implement programs to
prevent workplace violence. 1. Purpose. The purpose of this  section  is
to ensure that the risk of workplace assaults and homicides is evaluated
by affected public employers and their employees and that such employers
design  and  implement workplace violence protection programs to prevent
and minimize the hazard of workplace violence to public employees.
2. Definitions. For the purposes of this section:
a. "Employer" means: (1) the state; (2) a political subdivision of the
state; (3) a public authority, a  public  benefit  corporation,  or  any
other  governmental  agency  or  instrumentality  thereof;  and  (4)  an
authorized agency as defined in paragraph  (a)  of  subdivision  ten  of
section  three  hundred  seventy-one  of  the  social  services law that
accepts children adjudicated  delinquent  under  article  three  of  the
family court act.
b. "Employee" means a public employee working for an employer.
c.  "Workplace"  means  any location away from an employee's domicile,
permanent or temporary, where an employee performs any work-related duty
in the course of his or her employment by an employer.
d. "Supervisor" means any person within an employer's organization who
has the authority to direct and  control  the  work  performance  of  an
employee,  or  who has the authority to take corrective action regarding
the violation of a law, rule or regulation to which an employee  submits
written notice.
e.  "Retaliatory  action"  means  the discharge, suspension, demotion,
penalization, or discrimination against any employee, or  other  adverse
employment  action taken against an employee in the terms and conditions
of employment.
3. Risk evaluation and determination. Every  employer  shall  evaluate
its  workplace  or  workplaces  to  determine the presence of factors or
situations in such workplace or workplaces that might place employees at
risk of occupational assaults and homicides. Examples  of  such  factors
shall include, but not limited to:
a.  working  in  public  settings  (e.g.,  social  services  or  other
governmental workers, police officers,  firefighters,  teachers,  public
transportation drivers, health care workers, and service workers);
b. working late night or early morning hours;
c. exchanging money with the public;
d. working alone or in small numbers;
e. uncontrolled access to the workplace; and
f. areas of previous security problems.
4.  Written workplace violence prevention program. Every employer with
at  least  twenty  full  time  permanent  employees  shall  develop  and
implement  a  written  workplace  violence  prevention  program  for its
workplace or workplaces that includes the following:
a. a list of the risk factors identified in subdivision three of  this
section that are present in such workplace or workplaces;
b.  the  methods  the  employer  will  use  to  prevent  incidents  of
occupational assaults and homicides at  such  workplace  or  workplaces,
including but not limited to the following:
(1) making high-risk areas more visible to more people;
(2) installing good external lighting;
(3) using drop safes or other methods to minimize cash on hand;
(4) posting signs stating that limited cash is on hand;
(5)   providing   training   in  conflict  resolution  and  nonviolent
self-defense responses; and
(6) establishing and implementing reporting systems for  incidents  of
aggressive behavior.
5.  Employee information and training. a. Every employer with at least
twenty permanent full time employees shall make  the  written  workplace
violence  prevention  program available, upon request, to its employees,
their designated representatives and the department.
b.  Every  employer  shall  provide  its  employees with the following
information and training on  the  risks  of  occupational  assaults  and
homicides  in their workplace or workplaces at the time of their initial
assignment and annually thereafter:
(1) employees shall be informed of the requirements of  this  section,
the  risk factors in their workplace or workplaces, and the location and
availability  of  the  written  workplace  violence  prevention  program
required by this section; and
(2)  employee  training  shall  include  at  least:  (a)  the measures
employees can take to protect  themselves  from  such  risks,  including
specific  procedures  the employer has implemented to protect employees,
such  as  appropriate  work  practices,  emergency  procedures,  use  of
security  alarms  and  other devices, and (b) the details of the written
workplace violence prevention program developed by the employer.
6. Application. a. Any employee or  representative  of  employees  who
believes  that  a  serious  violation of a workplace violence protection
program exists or that an imminent danger exists shall bring such matter
to the attention of a supervisor in the form of  a  written  notice  and
shall  afford  the  employer  a  reasonable  opportunity to correct such
activity, policy or  practice.  This  referral  shall  not  apply  where
imminent danger or threat exists to the safety of a specific employee or
to  the general health of a specific patient and the employee reasonably
believes in good faith that reporting to a supervisor would  not  result
in corrective action.
b.   If  following  a  referral  of  such  matter  to  the  employee's
supervisor's attention and after a  reasonable  opportunity  to  correct
such  activity,  policy or practice the matter has not been resolved and
the employee or  representative  of  employees  still  believes  that  a
violation of a workplace violence prevention program remains, or that an
imminent danger exists, such employee or representative of employees may
request  an  inspection  by  giving  notice  to the commissioner of such
violation or danger. Such notice and request shall be in writing,  shall
set  forth  with  reasonable  particularity  the grounds for the notice,
shall be signed by such employee or representative of employees,  and  a
copy shall be provided by the commissioner to the employer or the person
in  charge  no  later  than  the  time of inspection, except that on the
request of the person giving such notice, such  person's  name  and  the
names  of  individual employees or representatives of employees shall be
withheld.  Such inspection shall be made forthwith.
c. A  representative  of  the  employer  and  an  authorized  employee
representative   shall   be  given  the  opportunity  to  accompany  the
commissioner during  an  inspection  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  such
inspection.  Where  there  is no authorized employee representative, the
commissioner  shall  consult  with  a  reasonable  number  of  employees
concerning matters of safety in the workplace.
d. The authority of the commissioner to inspect a premises pursuant to
such an employee complaint shall not be limited to the alleged violation
contained in such complaint. The commissioner may inspect any other area
of  the premises in which he or she has reason to believe that a serious
violation of this section exists.
e. No employer shall take  retaliatory  action  against  any  employee
because the employee does any of the following:
(1) makes an application pursuant to paragraph a of this subdivision;
(2)  requests  an  inspection  as  authorized  in  paragraph b of this
subdivision;
(3)  accompanies the commissioner as authorized in paragraph c of this
subdivision;
f. The commissioner may, upon his or her own  initiative,  conduct  an
inspection  of  any  premises  occupied  by an employer if he or she has
reason to believe that a violation of this section has occurred or if he
or she has a general administrative plan for  the  enforcement  of  this
section,  including  a  general schedule of inspections, which provide a
rational administrative basis for such inspecting.  Within  one  hundred
twenty  days  of  the  effective date of this paragraph the commissioner
shall adopt rules and regulations implementing the  provisions  of  this
section.
g.  Any  information  obtained  by  the  commissioner pursuant to this
subdivision shall be obtained with a minimum burden upon the employers.
h. When a request for an inspection has been made in a situation where
there is an allegation of an imminent danger such that an employee would
be subjecting himself or herself to serious injury or death  because  of
the  hazardous condition in the workplace, the inspection shall be given
the highest  priority  by  the  department  and  shall  be  carried  out
immediately.