Virginia has enacted legislation (House Bill 2269), which requires hospitals in Virginia to create a system to help prevent violence in the workplace. House Bill 2269 takes effect July 1, 2025.
The Details
As background, the law defines workplace violence as an act of violence or threat of violence, without regard to the intent of the perpetrator, which occurs against a hospital employee while working on the hospital’s premises. Workplace violence includes the following, regardless of whether physical injury is sustained:
- The threat or use of physical force against an employee that results in (or has a high likelihood of resulting in) injury, psychological trauma, or stress.
- An incident involving the threat of using dangerous weapons or using common objects as weapons to cause physical harm.
Note: The law defines employees as healthcare providers credentialed by the hospital or engaged by the hospital to perform healthcare services at the hospital.
Workplace Violence Incident Requirements
Under the law, hospitals must:
- Develop and implement a workplace violence incident reporting system that documents, tracks, and analyzes all reported incidents of violence in the workplace.
- Clearly communicate the reporting system to every employee (including new employees) and provide guidelines on when and how to report incidents of workplace violence to their employer, security agencies, and law enforcement authorities.
- Use the reporting system’s results to help improve workplace violence prevention efforts, including continuing education, such as:
Recordkeeping
Virginia hospitals must record every incident of workplace violence voluntarily reported by an employee (without any requirement to investigate beforehand) and maintain those records for at least two years.
Each record must capture the following about an incident of workplace violence:
- The date, time and a description of where the incident occurred;
- A description of the incident that includes impacted employees’ job titles;
- Who the perpetrator was (such as a patient, visitor, employee or other person);
- Key information, including whether the incident involved:
- The response to the incident and its results, such as whether:
- Who completed the report (including their name and job title), and the date of completion.
Data Reporting
Virginia hospitals must:
- Ensure the data is reported to the chief medical officer and the chief nursing officer of the hospital on a quarterly basis; and
- Beginning July 1, 2026, send a report to the Virginia Department of Health on an annual basis with the number of incidents voluntarily reported by an employee.
Next Steps
- Establish a workplace violence incident reporting system to help ensure compliance with House Bill 2269 by July 1, 2025.
- Look for further guidance on data collection and reporting from the State and send required reports to the Virginia Department of Health beginning July 1, 2026.