Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick recently signed a bill that will require direct service providers who receive funding from the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide workplace violence prevention and crisis response plans.
Employers will be required to update this plan annually, as well as give safety training to applicable employees. Social workers frequently put their safety at risk while performing their jobs, and this bill will hopefully offer some much needed protection.
The bill authorizes the HHS to make regulations and requirements regarding this program.
+2013 Bill Text MA H.B. 1963.
For more information about this new development, see Risk Management > Workplace Security: Massachusetts.
