(1) Authorized employee representative. An employee authorized by the employees or the designated representative of an employee organization recognized or certified to represent the employees pursuant to article 14 of the Civil Service Law.

(2) Commissioner. The Commissioner of Labor of the State of New York or his or her duly authorized representative for the purposes of implementing this Part.

(3) Employee. A public employee working for an employer.

(4) Employer. The State, any political subdivision of the State, any public authority public benefit corporation, and any other governmental agency or instrumentality thereof, except that an employer shall not include, for purposes of this part, any employer defined as such in section 2801 of the Education Law.

(5) Imminent danger. Any conditions or practices in any place of employment which are such that a danger exists which could reasonably be expected to cause death or serious physical harm immediately or before the imminence of such danger can be eliminated through the enforcement procedures otherwise provided for by this Part.

(6) Retaliatory action. The discharge, suspension, demotion, penalization or discrimination against any employee, or other adverse employment action taken against an employee in the terms and conditions of employment.

(7) Serious physical harm. Physical injury which creates a substantial risk of death, or which causes death or serious and protracted disfigurement, protracted impairment of health or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily organ or a sexual offense as defined in article 130 of the Penal Law.

(8) Serious violation. A serious violation of the Public Employer Workplace Violence Prevention Program (WVPP) is the failure to:

(9) Supervisor. Any person within the employer’s organization who has the authority to direct and control the work performance of an employee, or who has the authority to take corrective action regarding the violation of a law, rule or regulation to which an employee submits written notice.

(10) Workplace. Any location away from an employee’s domicile, permanent or temporary, where an employee performs any work-related duty in the course of his or her employment by an employer.

(11) Workplace violence. Any physical assault or acts of aggressive behavior occurring where a public employee performs any work-related duty in the course of his or her employment including but not limited to:

(12) Workplace Violence Prevention Program. An employer program designed to prevent, minimize and respond to any workplace violence, the development and implementation of which is required by article 2, section 27-b of the New York State Labor Law.

(1) Workplace violence policy statement. The employer shall develop and implement a written policy statement on the employer’s workplace violence prevention program goals and objectives and provide for full employee participation through an authorized employee representative.

(2) The responsibility and authority for preparing, determining the content of and implementing the requirements of this Part remains with the employer. Local governments and all other public employers may elect to share resources in the development and implementation of their workplace violence prevention programs.

(1) Record examination. The employer shall examine any records relevant to the purposes of this Part in its possession, including records compiled in the previous year under Labor Law section 27a, that concern workplace violence incidents to identify patterns in the type and cause of injuries. The examination shall look to identify patterns of injuries in particular areas of the workplace or incidents which involve specific operations or specific individuals.

(2) Administrative risk factors. The employer shall assess relevant policies, work practices, and work procedures that may impact the risk of workplace violence.

(3) Evaluation of physical environment. The employer, with the participation of the authorized employee representatives, shall evaluate the workplace to determine the presence of factors which may place employees at risk of workplace violence. The Department of Labor has tools to aid employers in performing this evaluation which will be posted on the department’s website. Factors which might place an employee at risk include but are not limited to:

(1) Employers with 20 or more full time permanent employees, with the participation of the authorized employee representative, shall develop a written workplace violence prevention program. Such participation shall include soliciting input from the authorized employee representative as to those situations in the workplace that pose a threat of workplace violence, and on the workplace violence prevention program the employer intends to implement under these regulations. Safety and health programs developed and implemented to meet other Federal, State or local regulations, laws or ordinances are considered acceptable in meeting this requirement if those programs cover or are modified to cover the topics required in this paragraph. An additional or separate safety and health program is not required by this paragraph.

(2) The Workplace Violence Prevention Program shall include the following:

(1) Upon completion of the workplace violence prevention program, every employer shall provide each employee with information and training on the risks of workplace violence in their workplace or workplaces at the time of the employee’s initial assignment and at least annually thereafter. Such information as necessary shall be provided to affected employees whenever significant changes are made to the workplace violence program. At a minimum training shall address the following:

(1) Employers shall establish and implement reporting systems for incidents of workplace violence. Reporting systems developed and implemented to meet other Federal, State or local regulations, laws or ordinances are considered acceptable in meeting this requirement if they cover or are modified to cover the information required in this paragraph. An additional or separate reporting system is not required by this paragraph.

(2) Employers at sites where there is a developing pattern of workplace violence incidents which may involve criminal conduct or a serious injury shall attempt to develop a protocol with the District Attorney or police to insure that violent crimes committed against employees in the workplace are promptly investigated and appropriately prosecuted. The employer shall provide information on such protocols and contact information to employees who wish to file a criminal complaint after a workplace violence incident.

(3) Systems for reporting instances of workplace violence.

(4) The workplace violence incident report must be maintained for use in annual program review and updates. This requirement does not relieve an employer of the recordkeeping requirements of Part 801 of this Title.

(5) The employer, with the participation of the authorized employee representative, shall conduct a review of the workplace violence incident reports at least annually to identify trends in the types of incidents in the workplace and review of the effectiveness of the mitigating actions taken.

(1) Any employee or his or her authorized employee representative who believes that a serious violation of the employer’s workplace violence protection program exists, or that a workplace violence imminent danger exists, shall bring such matter to the attention of a supervisor in the form of a written notice and shall afford the employer a reasonable opportunity to correct such activity, policy or practice.

(2) Written notice to an employer shall not be required where workplace violence imminent danger exists to the safety of a specific employee or to the general health of a specific patient and the employee reasonably believes in good faith that reporting to a supervisor would not result in corrective action.

(3) If, following a referral of such matter to the employee's supervisor and after a reasonable opportunity to correct such activity, policy or practice, the matter has not been resolved and the employee or the authorized employee representative still believes that a serious violation of a workplace violence prevention program remains or that an imminent danger exists, such employee may request an inspection by notifying the Commissioner of Labor of the alleged violation. Such notice and request shall be in writing, shall set forth with reasonable particularity the ground(s) for the notice and shall be signed by such employee or their authorized employee representative. A copy of the written notice shall be provided by the commissioner to the employer or the person in charge no later than the time of inspection, except that at the request of the person giving such notice, such person's name and the names of individual employees or authorized employee representatives of employees shall be withheld. Such inspection shall be made forthwith by the commissioner.

(4) The authority of the commissioner to inspect premises pursuant to such employee complaint shall not be limited to the alleged violation contained in such complaint. The commissioner may inspect any other area of the premises in which he or she has reason to believe that a serious violation of this section exists.

(5) The commissioner may, upon his or her own initiative, conduct an inspection of any premises occupied by an employer if he or she has reason to believe that a violation of this section has occurred. The current PESH administrative plan will be used for the enforcement of this section, including a general schedule of inspections, which provides a rational administrative basis for such inspection.

(6) No employer shall take retaliatory action against any employee because the employee exercises any right accorded him or her by this Part.

(1) The employer’s policy statement required by subdivision (e) of this Part shall be completed within 30 days after the effective date of this Part.

(2) The workplace risk evaluation and determination required by subdivision (f) of this Part shall be completed within 60 days of the effective date of this Part.

(3) The workplace violence prevention program required by subdivision (g) of this Part shall be complete within 75 days of the effective date of this Part.

(4) Employers shall be in compliance with the entire Part within 120 days of the effective date of this Part.