Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2647 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 2647
5	5	To direct the Secretary of Labor to issue nonmandatory guidance on reducing
6	6	the threat of violence in the workplace, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	APRIL3, 2025
9	9	Mr. N
10	10	EGUSEintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
11	11	Committee on Education and Workforce
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To direct the Secretary of Labor to issue nonmandatory
14	14	guidance on reducing the threat of violence in the work-
15	15	place, and for other purposes.
16	16	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
17	17	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
18	18	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
19	19	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe Workplaces Act’’. 4
20	20	SEC. 2. OSHA GUIDANCE ON REDUCING THE THREAT OF VI-5
21	21	OLENCE IN THE WORKPLACE. 6
22	22	(a) S
23	23	TUDY.—The Director of the National Institute 7
24	24	for Occupational Safety and Health shall conduct a study 8
25	25	on reducing the threat of violence in the workplace. 9
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28	28	•HR 2647 IH
29	29	(b) REPORT.—Not later than 15 months after the 1
30	30	date of the enactment of this Act, the Director shall sub-2
31	31	mit to the Secretary of Labor, the Committee on Edu-3
32	32	cation and Labor of the House of Representatives, and 4
33	33	the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pen-5
34	34	sions of the Senate a report on the results of the study 6
35	35	conducted under subsection (a), which shall include rec-7
36	36	ommendations that the Secretary of Labor shall consider 8
37	37	when issuing the guidance described in subsection (c). 9
38	38	(c) G
39	39	UIDANCE.— 10
40	40	(1) I
41	41	N GENERAL.—Not later than 4 years after 11
42	42	the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 12
43	43	Labor, acting through the Occupational Safety and 13
44	44	Health Administration, shall issue nonmandatory 14
45	45	guidance on activities and work practice controls 15
46	46	that can be implemented by workplaces to reduce 16
47	47	workplace violence. Such guidance shall be differen-17
48	48	tiated to the extent necessary to account for the 18
49	49	unique characteristics of, and the potential for 19
50	50	threats of violence at, of each variety of workplace, 20
51	51	including grocery stores, retail stores, movie thea-21
52	52	tres, hospitals, office buildings, restaurants and 22
53	53	bars, religious facilities, manufacturing facilities, 23
54	54	mail distribution centers, community centers, child 24
55	55	care centers, and schools. 25
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59	59	(2) CONSIDERATION.—In issuing the guidance 1
60	60	required under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall— 2
61	61	(A) consider the recommendations included 3
62	62	in the report required under subsection (b); and 4
63	63	(B) take into account engineering controls, 5
64	64	dangerous weapons, and environmental risk fac-6
65	65	tors that may impact a workplace. 7
66	66	(d) D
67	67	EFINITIONS.—In this Act: 8
68	68	(1) D
69	69	ANGEROUS WEAPON .—The term ‘‘dan-9
70	70	gerous weapon’’ means an instrument capable of in-10
71	71	flicting death or serious bodily injury, without re-11
72	72	gard to whether such instrument was designed for 12
73	73	that purpose. 13
74	74	(2) E
75	75	NGINEERING CONTROLS .— 14
76	76	(A) I
77	77	N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘engineering 15
78	78	controls’’ means an aspect of the built space or 16
79	79	a device that removes a hazard from the work-17
80	80	place or creates a barrier between an employee 18
81	81	and the hazard. 19
82	82	(B) I
83	83	NCLUSIONS.—For purposes of reduc-20
84	84	ing workplace violence hazards, the term ‘‘engi-21
85	85	neering controls’’ includes electronic access con-22
86	86	trols to employee occupied areas, weapon detec-23
87	87	tors (installed or handheld), enclosed work-24
88	88	stations with shatter-resistant glass, deep serv-25
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91	91	•HR 2647 IH
92	92	ice counters, locks on doors, removing access to 1
93	93	or securing items that could be used as weap-2
94	94	ons, furniture affixed to the floor, opaque glass, 3
95	95	closed-circuit television monitoring and video re-4
96	96	cording, sight-aids, and personal alarm devices. 5
97	97	(3) E
98	98	NVIRONMENTAL RISK FACTORS .— 6
99	99	(A) I
100	100	N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘environ-7
101	101	mental risk factors’’ means factors in the facil-8
102	102	ity or area in which a service is performed that 9
103	103	may contribute to the likelihood or severity of 10
104	104	a workplace violence incident. 11
105	105	(B) C
106	106	LARIFICATION.—Environmental risk 12
107	107	factors may be associated with the specific task 13
108	108	being performed or the work area, such as 14
109	109	working in an isolated area, poor illumination 15
110	110	or blocked visibility, and lack of physical bar-16
111	111	riers between individuals and persons at risk of 17
112	112	committing workplace violence. 18
113	113	(4) T
114	114	HREAT OF VIOLENCE .—The term ‘‘threat 19
115	115	of violence’’ means a statement or conduct that— 20
116	116	(A) causes an individual to fear for such 21
117	117	individual’s safety because there is a reasonable 22
118	118	possibility the individual might be physically in-23
119	119	jured; and 24
120	120	(B) serves no legitimate purpose. 25
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124	124	(5) WORK PRACTICE CONTROLS .— 1
125	125	(A) I
126	126	N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘work prac-2
127	127	tice controls’’ means procedures and rules that 3
128	128	are used to effectively reduce workplace violence 4
129	129	hazards. 5
130	130	(B) I
131	131	NCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘work prac-6
132	132	tice controls’’ includes— 7
133	133	(i) assigning and placing sufficient 8
134	134	numbers of staff to reduce workplace vio-9
135	135	lence directed at employees by customers, 10
136	136	clients, patients, students, inmates, or any 11
137	137	individual for whom the workplace provides 12
138	138	services or for whom the employee per-13
139	139	forms services; 14
140	140	(ii) a provision of dedicated and avail-15
141	141	able safety personnel such as security 16
142	142	guards; 17
143	143	(iii) employee training on workplace 18
144	144	violence prevention methods and tech-19
145	145	niques to de-escalate and minimize violent 20
146	146	behavior; and 21
147	147	(iv) employee training on procedures 22
148	148	for response in the event of a workplace vi-23
149	149	olence incident and for post-incident re-24
150	150	sponse. 25
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154	154	(6) WORKPLACE VIOLENCE.— 1
155	155	(A) I
156	156	N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘workplace 2
157	157	violence’’ means any act of violence or threat of 3
158	158	violence, without regard to intent, that occurs 4
159	159	at a workplace or while an employee performs 5
160	160	a service. 6
161	161	(B) E
162	162	XCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘workplace 7
163	163	violence’’ does not include lawful acts of self-de-8
164	164	fense or lawful acts of defense of others. 9
165	165	(C) I
166	166	NCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘workplace 10
167	167	violence’’ includes— 11
168	168	(i) the threat or use of physical force 12
169	169	against a employee that results in or has 13
170	170	a high likelihood of resulting in injury, 14
171	171	psychological trauma, or stress, without re-15
172	172	gard to whether the employee sustains an 16
173	173	injury, psychological trauma, or stress; and 17
174	174	(ii) an incident involving the threat or 18
175	175	use of a firearm or a dangerous weapon, 19
176	176	including the use of common objects as 20
177	177	weapons, without regard to whether the 21
178	178	employee sustains an injury, psychological 22
179	179	trauma, or stress. 23
180	180	Æ
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