Oregon OSHA is preparing a rulemaking process to implement changes state lawmakers enacted to strengthen worker safety in certain health care settings.
The division is doing so in response to two bills passed by the 2025 Oregon Legislature and signed by Gov. Tina Kotek. Senate Bill (SB) 537 creates workplace violence prevention requirements to improve worker safety at certain health care sites. House Bill (HB) 2024 establishes provisions to improve worker safety in certain mental health care and substance use disorder treatment settings. An emergency clause in HB 2024 made the bill effective July 1, 2025, with an implementation date of July 1, 2026, for the provisions related to the Oregon Safe Employment Act. SB 537 is set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2026.
Oregon OSHA will follow its formal and transparent rulemaking process – including stakeholder and public input and review – as it works to carry out the changes. The division will address both bills at the same time. Learn more by visiting the advisory group online page, which includes Oregon OSHA staff contact information. As the process moves forward, the division will share more information, notices, and resources.
The following summarizes some of the provisions in SB 537 and HB 2024.
SB 537
- Directs the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS), of which Oregon OSHA is a division, to adopt rules related to safety committees.
- Requires DCBS to create procedures for health care employers for investigating, collecting, and reporting on incidences of workplace violence.
- Adds requirements to workplace violence prevention programs for health care employers.
- Extends requirements from only hospitals and ambulatory centers to also include home hospice programs and home health agencies.
- Requires health care employers to consult their workplace safety committee when fulfilling the following requirements: conducting safety assessments for threats of workplace violence, developing workplace violence prevention programs, giving annual trainings, measuring frequency of incidents of workplace violence, analyzing the root causes of workplace violence incidence and a plan for addressing the analyzed causes, creating a prevention and protection response plan to address workplace violence, and issuing findings on the implementation of security considerations.
- Requires health care employers to implement workplace violence prevention and response plans and sets minimum standards of the plan.
- Requires health care employers to provide each employee with a written copy of the workplace violence prevention and response plan and for all new employees to receive a copy of the plan within 30 days of hire.
- Creates a requirement for DCBS to prepare a report.
- Directs DCBS to submit a consolidated report to the Oregon Legislature by Dec. 31 annually from the data collected during inspections.
HB 2024
- Adds worker safety requirements for the behavioral health sector. Requires behavioral health employers to provide employee training addressing general worker safety and focusing on the following:
- The potential risks workers may face in a particular behavioral health setting.
- Protocols for using safety equipment, emergency communication devices, and alert systems in emergencies.
- De-escalation techniques for managing and mitigating potentially aggressive behavior from clients.
- Options for reporting alleged workplace safety violations and allegations of discrimination, retaliation, or harassment to Oregon OSHA, the Bureau of Labor and Industries, and other relevant state agencies.
- Training that includes simulated scenarios and roleplaying to ensure workers have opportunities to apply their training in real-world scenarios.
- Behavioral health employers must retain records of completed trainings.
- Creates behavioral health care provider incentives
- Directs Oregon Health Authority (OHA) to give grants to behavioral health employers to help them hire and keep behavioral health care workers.