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, provided, however  that  this  subdivision  shall  not  mean  any  employer  as  defined  in  section  twenty-eight  hundred  one-a  of the  education law; and (3) a public authority, a public benefit corporation,  or any other governmental agency or instrumentality thereof.    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 workplaceviolence 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.