I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2647
To direct the Secretary of Labor to issue nonmandatory guidance on reducing
the threat of violence in the workplace, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL3, 2025
Mr. N
EGUSEintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and Workforce
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Labor to issue nonmandatory
guidance on reducing the threat of violence in the work-
place, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe Workplaces Act’’. 4
SEC. 2. OSHA GUIDANCE ON REDUCING THE THREAT OF VI-5
OLENCE IN THE WORKPLACE. 6
(a) S
TUDY.—The Director of the National Institute 7
for Occupational Safety and Health shall conduct a study 8
on reducing the threat of violence in the workplace. 9
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(b) REPORT.—Not later than 15 months after the 1
date of the enactment of this Act, the Director shall sub-2
mit to the Secretary of Labor, the Committee on Edu-3
cation and Labor of the House of Representatives, and 4
the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pen-5
sions of the Senate a report on the results of the study 6
conducted under subsection (a), which shall include rec-7
ommendations that the Secretary of Labor shall consider 8
when issuing the guidance described in subsection (c). 9
(c) G
UIDANCE.— 10
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 4 years after 11
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 12
Labor, acting through the Occupational Safety and 13
Health Administration, shall issue nonmandatory 14
guidance on activities and work practice controls 15
that can be implemented by workplaces to reduce 16
workplace violence. Such guidance shall be differen-17
tiated to the extent necessary to account for the 18
unique characteristics of, and the potential for 19
threats of violence at, of each variety of workplace, 20
including grocery stores, retail stores, movie thea-21
tres, hospitals, office buildings, restaurants and 22
bars, religious facilities, manufacturing facilities, 23
mail distribution centers, community centers, child 24
care centers, and schools. 25
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(2) CONSIDERATION.—In issuing the guidance 1
required under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall— 2
(A) consider the recommendations included 3
in the report required under subsection (b); and 4
(B) take into account engineering controls, 5
dangerous weapons, and environmental risk fac-6
tors that may impact a workplace. 7
(d) D
EFINITIONS.—In this Act: 8
(1) D
ANGEROUS WEAPON .—The term ‘‘dan-9
gerous weapon’’ means an instrument capable of in-10
flicting death or serious bodily injury, without re-11
gard to whether such instrument was designed for 12
that purpose. 13
(2) E
NGINEERING CONTROLS .— 14
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘engineering 15
controls’’ means an aspect of the built space or 16
a device that removes a hazard from the work-17
place or creates a barrier between an employee 18
and the hazard. 19
(B) I
NCLUSIONS.—For purposes of reduc-20
ing workplace violence hazards, the term ‘‘engi-21
neering controls’’ includes electronic access con-22
trols to employee occupied areas, weapon detec-23
tors (installed or handheld), enclosed work-24
stations with shatter-resistant glass, deep serv-25
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ice counters, locks on doors, removing access to 1
or securing items that could be used as weap-2
ons, furniture affixed to the floor, opaque glass, 3
closed-circuit television monitoring and video re-4
cording, sight-aids, and personal alarm devices. 5
(3) E
NVIRONMENTAL RISK FACTORS .— 6
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘environ-7
mental risk factors’’ means factors in the facil-8
ity or area in which a service is performed that 9
may contribute to the likelihood or severity of 10
a workplace violence incident. 11
(B) C
LARIFICATION.—Environmental risk 12
factors may be associated with the specific task 13
being performed or the work area, such as 14
working in an isolated area, poor illumination 15
or blocked visibility, and lack of physical bar-16
riers between individuals and persons at risk of 17
committing workplace violence. 18
(4) T
HREAT OF VIOLENCE .—The term ‘‘threat 19
of violence’’ means a statement or conduct that— 20
(A) causes an individual to fear for such 21
individual’s safety because there is a reasonable 22
possibility the individual might be physically in-23
jured; and 24
(B) serves no legitimate purpose. 25
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(5) WORK PRACTICE CONTROLS .— 1
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘work prac-2
tice controls’’ means procedures and rules that 3
are used to effectively reduce workplace violence 4
hazards. 5
(B) I
NCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘work prac-6
tice controls’’ includes— 7
(i) assigning and placing sufficient 8
numbers of staff to reduce workplace vio-9
lence directed at employees by customers, 10
clients, patients, students, inmates, or any 11
individual for whom the workplace provides 12
services or for whom the employee per-13
forms services; 14
(ii) a provision of dedicated and avail-15
able safety personnel such as security 16
guards; 17
(iii) employee training on workplace 18
violence prevention methods and tech-19
niques to de-escalate and minimize violent 20
behavior; and 21
(iv) employee training on procedures 22
for response in the event of a workplace vi-23
olence incident and for post-incident re-24
sponse. 25
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(6) WORKPLACE VIOLENCE.— 1
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘workplace 2
violence’’ means any act of violence or threat of 3
violence, without regard to intent, that occurs 4
at a workplace or while an employee performs 5
a service. 6
(B) E
XCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘workplace 7
violence’’ does not include lawful acts of self-de-8
fense or lawful acts of defense of others. 9
(C) I
NCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘workplace 10
violence’’ includes— 11
(i) the threat or use of physical force 12
against a employee that results in or has 13
a high likelihood of resulting in injury, 14
psychological trauma, or stress, without re-15
gard to whether the employee sustains an 16
injury, psychological trauma, or stress; and 17
(ii) an incident involving the threat or 18
use of a firearm or a dangerous weapon, 19
including the use of common objects as 20
weapons, without regard to whether the 21
employee sustains an injury, psychological 22
trauma, or stress. 23
Æ
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