Workplace violence against employees providing healthcare and social assistance services is a serious and longstanding concern. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued Guidelines for Preventing Workplace Violence for Healthcare and Social Service Workers in 1996 and updated the guidelines in 2004 and 2016. OSHA has also used the general duty clause (Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act) in enforcement cases addressing workplace violence in healthcare.

OSHA published a Request for Information on December 7, 2016, (81 FR 88147) seeking information about the extent and nature of workplace violence in the industry and the nature and effectiveness of interventions and controls used to prevent such violence. Also in 2016, a broad coalition of labor unions petitioned OSHA to issue a standard to address workplace violence in healthcare, and National Nurses United submitted a separate petition for a workplace violence standard. On January 10, 2017, OSHA granted the petitions. In accordance with the requirements of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act, OSHA convened a Small Business Advocacy Review (SBAR) panel in March 2023 to consider a potential standard for prevention of workplace violence in healthcare and social assistance. The SBAR Panel issued its report on May 1, 2023.