Summary and Safety-Care Alignment: 

Effective: July 9, 2021

Last Updated: December, 2024

In 2021, Rhode Island passed Senate Bill 55 which set new requirements regarding workplace safety in hospitals. Below is a summary as well as information on how Safety-Care can help meet the training needs of staff.

How Safety-Care aligns: Numerous health care organizations throughout the United States and Canada rely upon QBS and our Safety-Care training to provide their staff members with the training they need to help maintain a safe and healthy environment. Safety-Care provides a comprehensive, supportive approach to incident prevention, de-escalation, and management. Your Staff will learn practical strategies for helping students that use evidence-based practices consistent with PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports) and ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis).

Safety-Care can meet the requirements of SB 55/HB 6018 in the following ways:

23-17.28-5. Safety assessments - preventive programs

(a) All hospitals licensed in the state of Rhode Island shall:

(1) Create a workplace safety committee which shall conduct periodic security and safety assessments to identify existing or potential hazards for assaults committed against employees;

(2) Develop and implement an assault prevention and protection program for employees based on assessments conducted under subsection (a)(1) of this section; and

(3) Provide assault prevention and protection training on a regular and ongoing basis for employees.

(b) An assessment conducted under subsection (a)(1) of this section shall include, but need not be limited to:

(1) Keeping track of the frequency of assaults committed against employees that occur on the premises of the hospital; and

(2) Identifying the causes and consequences of assaults against employees.

How Safety-Care aligns: Safety-Care can be a vital part of any developed workplace violence prevention plan. Safety-Care is uniquely designed to provide trainees with the skills to assess potential crises, how de-escalate these situations, and how to respond if the situation is elevated. Our trainings are trauma-informed and focus on modifying behavior to prevent dangerous outcomes. Safety-Care is focused on encouraging positive behavior prior to the use of any other intervention strategy. Our approach stems from the use of Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS) that can prevent and manage challenge behavior.

(d) Assault prevention and protection training required under subsection (a)(3) of this section shall address the following topics:

(1) General safety and personal safety procedures;
(2) Escalation cycles for assaultive behaviors;
(3) Factors that predict assaultive behaviors;
(4) Techniques for obtaining medical history from a patient with assaultive behavior;
(5) Verbal and physical techniques to de-escalate and minimize assaultive behaviors;
(6) Strategies for avoiding physical harm and minimizing use of restraints;
(7) Restraint techniques consistent with regulatory requirements;
(8) Self-defense, including:

(i) The amount of physical force that is reasonably necessary to protect the employee or a third person from assault; and
(ii) The use of the least restrictive procedures necessary under the circumstances, in accordance with an approved behavior management plan, and any other methods of response approved by the hospital;

(9) Procedures for documenting and reporting incidents involving assaultive behaviors;
(10) Programs for post-incident counseling for employees affected by the assaultive behavior and follow-ups as needed;
(11) Resources available to employees for coping with assaults; and
(12) The hospital’s workplace assault prevention and protection program.

How Safety-Care aligns: Safety-Care as a training program can be tailored to meet the needs of multiply organizations and professions. All Safety-Care offerings are trauma-informed and utilize PBIS and ABA to ensure that all trainees are equipped with the appropriate responses to challenging behaviors. Additionally, add-on trainings can be provided for unique situations to your facility. Safety-Care is initially taught over a three day period and requires renewal courses once a year. Our program is also under constant evaluation to ensure that it matches with the most current research in de-escalation, positive behavior reinforcements, and safety protocols. Safety-Care is primarily taught through verbal and role-play methods to ensure that trainees have hands on experience with the physical management techniques that are used. As part of our focus on de-escalation, Safety-Care uses a “De-Escalation Staircase” format. This staircase is used to describe how an individual can move up and down from a state of calm to a state of crisis, where violence is possible. As part of the discussion on the staircase, behavioral predictors are reviewed. Safety-Care strategies can then be used to move an individual down the staircase back to a state of calm.

Safety-Care certified individuals are trained to use our Help, Prompt, and Wait strategies as early intervention procedures that effectively de-escalate potential crisis situations before any physical management is necessary. Safety-Care is also based on Applied Behavior Analysis practices and regularly updated with the most current research. This ensures that your staff is fully trained in in a system that is focused on de-escalation and is fully trauma-informed.

All physical management techniques are role-played by trainees to ensure that they fully grasp the need for minimum restriction and full safety of all participants. Our Master Trainers verify each trainees use of these techniques in role-play, further ensuring their safe use. Each trainee must prove mastery of proper technique use before they can be certified in Safety-Care. Safety-Care prohibits the use of chemical restraints.

(e) Hospitals shall provide assault prevention and protection training to a new employee within ninety (90) days of the employee’s initial hiring date.

(g) At least once every two (2) years, a hospital shall establish, in coordination with the hospital’s workplace safety committee, a process by which the committee shall review the hospital’s assault prevention and protection program developed and implemented under subsection (a)(2) of this section in order to evaluate the efficacy of the program and consider any changes to the program.