NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A10629
SPONSOR: Gibbs TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to requiring the use
of metal detectors at all general hospital public entrances
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill would require that hospitals deploy and use metal detectors at
all public entrances
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends Subdivision 5 of section 2832 of the public health law,
as added by chapter 618 of the laws of 2025, to add the requirement that
a hospital's workplace violence safety and security plan include the use
of metal detectors at all public entrances.
Section 2 sets that this act shall take effect immediately, provided,
however, if chapter 618 of the laws of 2025 shall not have taken effect
on or before such date then this act shall take effect on the same date
and in the same manner as such chapter of the laws of 2025 takes effect.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION (IF APPLICABLE):
N/A
JUSTIFICATION:
Workplace violence is endemic in healthcare facilities. According to
the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), nurs-
es and direct care aides experience more violence than any other hospi-
tal personnel. While overall occupational injury and illness rates in
the U.S. are falling, workplace violence is on the rise, particularly in
the healthcare setting. Assault on the job is one of the most frequent
causes of serious injuries in the healthcare industry, and violence is a
more common cause of injury than in other industries. The National Crime
Victimization Survey reports that healthcare workers experience a 20%
higher rate of violence than all other professions. In a 2022 American
College of Emergency Physicians survey of E.R. doctors, 55 percent said
they had been physically assaulted, almost all by patients, with a third
of those resulting in injuries. 85 percent had been seriously threatened
by patients. The risks can be even higher for E.R. nurses, with over 70
percent reporting they had sustained physical assaults at work.
The Legislature recognized the enhanced safety risk to frontline health-
care workers when it passed A203-B (Chapter 618 of 2025) requiring
hospitals to develop workplace violence safety and security plan that is
periodically reviewed. While hospitals will soon be required to develop
a plan, there is no minimum requirements in place for what must be
included in the plan beyond the general goal of reducing identified
risks. This bill would require these safety and security plans to
include, at a minimum, the use of metal detectors at all public
entrances.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
N/A
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10629
IN ASSEMBLY
March 13, 2026
___________
Introduced by M. of A. GIBBS -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to requiring the use
of metal detectors at all general hospital public entrances
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 5 of section 2832 of the public health law, as
2 added by chapter 618 of the laws of 2025, is amended to read as follows:
3 5. Based on the findings and ongoing review of the workplace violence
4 assessment, general hospitals shall implement a workplace violence safe-
5 ty and security plan, which shall be updated as necessary to address
6 newly identified material risks and changes in conditions. The safety
7 and security plan shall specify methods to reduce identified risks,
8 which may include employee training, increased staffing and security,
9 engineering controls such as barriers, lighting, alarms and communi-
10 cation systems, safety equipment, general hospital improvements or
11 modifications, and other appropriate measures relevant to the general
12 hospital, and shall at a minimum include the use of metal detectors at
13 all public entrances. Each general hospital shall provide a written
14 detailed summary of the safety and security plan to its employees and
15 collective bargaining representatives, if applicable. Each general
16 hospital shall also provide information to its employees and collective
17 bargaining representatives, if applicable, about how to report incidents
18 of workplace violence. Each general hospital shall share summaries of
19 the incident log, appropriately redacted to protect the privacy of
20 persons involved in an incident, trends and analysis of relevant data
21 with the general hospital security or safety committee responsible for
22 workplace violence and ensure that the data is part of the workplace
23 violence assessment process.
24 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately, provided, however, if
25 chapter 618 of the laws of 2025 shall not have taken effect on or before
26 such date then this act shall take effect on the same date and in the
27 same manner as such chapter of the laws of 2025 takes effect.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15207-01-6
