OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
H.B. 452 Bill Analysis
135th General Assembly
Click here for H.B. 452’s Fiscal Note
Version: As Reported by Senate Veterans and Public Safety
Primary Sponsors: Reps. White and Baker
Effective date:
Erika Kramer, Attorney
SUMMARY
Hospital security plans
▪ Requires each hospital system and each hospital that is not part of a hospital system to
establish a security plan for preventing workplace violence and managing aggressive
behaviors.
▪ Specifies various requirements for the plans, including that the plans be submitted to the
Ohio Department of Health (ODH) and be reviewed and evaluated annually.
▪ Requires each hospital system and each hospital that is not part of a hospital system to
establish a workplace violence incident reporting system.
▪ Requires all hospitals to post a notice that aggressive behavior toward staff will not be
tolerated, in place of the existing option to post such a notice.
▪ Requires the Department of Higher Education, jointly with ODH, to survey colleges and
universities that provide education and training to students seeking to become health
care providers to determine whether the education and training provided to those
students addresses workplace violence prevention and managing aggressive behaviors.
▪ Requires the Chancellor of Higher Education to make recommendations and prepare a
report for the General Assembly based on the results of the survey.
 This analysis was prepared before the report of the Senate Veterans and Public Safety Committee
appeared in the Senate Journal. Note that the legislative history may be incomplete.
December 17, 2024
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
Civil immunity for self or other-defense and nonprofit
corporations
▪ Specifies that the immunities currently provided for nonprofit corporations for any of the
following also apply to a for-profit corporation that leases its property to the nonprofit
corporation or permits its property to be used by the nonprofit corporation for any
purpose:
 Injury, death, or loss to person or property allegedly caused by or related to a
concealed handgun licensee bringing a handgun onto the premises or to an event of
the nonprofit corporation;
 Injury, death, or loss to person or property allegedly caused by or related to a decision
to permit a licensee to bring, or prohibit a licensee from bringing, a handgun onto the
premises or to an event of the nonprofit corporation.
▪ Generally grants civil immunity to a person for certain injuries allegedly caused by the
person acting in self-defense or defense of another during the commission, or imminent
commission, of an offense of violence to protect the members or guests of a nonprofit
corporation under certain circumstances.
▪ Specifies that a person who approaches or enters a nonprofit corporation’s premises or
event with intent to commit an offense of violence is presumed liable for any injury,
death, or loss to person or property resulting from an act of self-defense or defense of
another against that person.
DETAILED ANALYSIS
Hospital security plans
Establishment and requirements
The bill requires each hospital system, and each hospital that is not part of a hospital
system, to establish a security plan for preventing workplace violence and managing aggressive
behaviors. The hospital system or hospital making the plan must involve a team consisting of
members selected by the hospital system or hospital, including (1) at least one member that is a
current or former patient or family member of a patient and (2) at least 50% of the total
membership being health care employees who provide direct patient care.1
The bill also provides that each security plan must:2
1. Be based on the results of a security risk assessment.
The security risk assessment must be conducted for each hospital, and must address all
high-risk areas of each hospital, including emergency departments and psychiatric
1 R.C. 3727.18(A).
2 R.C. 3727.18(B).
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departments, if those departments exist in the hospital being assessed. The assessment
must consider any trauma-level designation held by the hospital, overall patient volume,
psychiatric and forensic patient volume, past incidents of violence against staff and levels
of injury resulting from those incidents, rates of crime in the community, and any other
data points specified by the team making the plan, as described above.
2. Include an option for health care employees who provide direct patient care to request a
first name only or first name and last initial only identification badge.
3. Require at least one hospital employee trained in de-escalation practices to be present at
all times in the hospital’s emergency department and psychiatric department, if the
hospital has such departments.
The plan may require at least one such trained employee to be present in other high-risk
areas that were identified during the hospital’s risk assessment. Additionally, based on
the risk assessment, the plan must address whether hospital police officers, trained
security personnel, or off-duty law enforcement officers are required to be present in the
hospital’s emergency department and psychiatric department, if any, and in any other
high-risk areas that were identified during the hospital’s risk assessment.
4. Outline training requirements for security personnel.
The training requirements must address potential use of and response to weapons;
defensive tactics; de-escalation techniques; appropriate physical restraint and seclusion
techniques; crisis intervention; trauma-informed approaches; and safely addressing
situations involving patients, family members, or other individuals who pose a risk of self-
harm or harm to others.
For security personnel employed directly by a hospital system or a hospital, the Attorney
General must adopt rules permitting the personnel to access any online training that (a)
meets the training requirements under the hospital’s security plan and (b) is available
under peace officer training programs or otherwise provided by the Ohio Peace Officer
Training Academy or at other approved peace officer training schools. The rules must be
adopted within six months after the bill’s effective date.3
5. Include guidelines outlining when law enforcement officers, hospital police officers, or
trained security personnel remain with a patient who has demonstrated violence or poses
a risk of self-harm or harm to others.
The guidelines must be developed jointly with local law enforcement authorities,
including hospital police departments, that agree to participate.
Review and evaluation
Each security plan established pursuant to the bill must be reviewed and evaluated by the
hospital system or hospital annually. The review and evaluation must involve the team that
established the plan or a successor team that meets the same membership requirements as the
3 R.C. 109.7411.
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original team. Plans must be revised if revisions are required as determined by the review and
evaluation.4
Ohio Department of Health verification
The bill requires hospital systems and hospitals to submit to the Ohio Department of
Health (ODH), in a manner designated by ODH, verification of compliance with the bill’s
requirements.5
The bill provides that hospital security plans, annual revisions, and any of the verification
information submitted to ODH, as described above, are confidential and not public records.6
Workplace violence incident reporting system
The bill requires each hospital system, and each hospital that is not part of a hospital
system, to establish a workplace violence incident reporting system. The system must be
documented, tracked, and analyzed. The results of the analysis must be used to make
improvements in preventing workplace violence and managing aggressive behaviors, including
improvements achieved through continuing education in targeted areas such as de-escalation
training, risk identification, and prevention planning. The reporting systems must track: the
number of incidents reported through the systems; the number of incidents reported to law
enforcement authorities, including those reported to a hospital police department; and the
number of individuals involved in the incidents who are criminally charged as a result.
Data from the reporting system must be shared with the team involved in developing or
annually reviewing and evaluating security plans, as described above under “Hospital
security plans.” The reporting system must be clearly communicated to employees, including
to all new employees during orientation, and must include guidelines for when and how to report
incidents to the employer, security agencies, law enforcement authorities, including hospital
police departments, local emergency service organizations, or government agencies.
Each hospital system, and each hospital that is not part of a hospital system, must adopt
a policy that prohibits any person from discriminating or retaliating against any health care
employee for reporting to, or seeking assistance or intervention from, the employer, security
agencies, law enforcement authorities, including hospital police departments, local emergency
service organizations, or government agencies. The policy also must prohibit discrimination or
retaliation against a health care employee for participating in an incident investigation.7
4 R.C. 3727.18(C).
5 R.C. 3727.18(D).
6 R.C. 3727.18(E).
7 R.C. 3727.181.
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Time to comply
For existing hospital systems and hospitals, the bill specifies the following must be done
within three months after the bill’s effective date:8
▪ Establishment of the security plans and workplace incident reporting systems;
▪ Submission of security plans to ODH; and
▪ Compliance with the notice requirements described below under “Notices regarding
threatening and aggressive behavior.”
Rulemaking
The bill authorizes the ODH Director to adopt rules as necessary to implement the bill’s
provisions that are described above. The rules must be adopted in accordance with the
Administrative Procedure Act. The rules are exempt from certain existing law provisions that
apply to rules containing regulatory restrictions.9
Notice regarding threatening and aggressive behavior
The bill modifies existing law that authorizes a hospital to post a notice that threatening
or aggressive behavior toward staff will not be tolerated. The bill makes such notice mandatory
for all hospitals, and permits the notice to be in print or digital sign format. The bill maintains
current law that specifies areas where the notice may be posted.
The bill makes minor modifications to the content of the notice, and provides that a
hospital’s notice may use the wording in the statute or similar wording.10
Survey of education and training for health care students
The bill requires the Department of Higher Education, jointly with ODH, to survey colleges
and universities that provide education and training to students seeking to become health care
providers, including medical students, nursing students, and allied health students. The purpose
of the survey is to determine whether the education and training provided to those students
addresses workplace violence prevention and management of aggressive behaviors. The survey
must include a determination of whether de-escalation, conflict management, and risk
identification and assessment are part of the education and training. The survey must be
completed within six months after the bill’s effective date.
Based on the survey, the Chancellor of Higher Education, in consultation with the Ohio
Council of Medical School Deans and the Ohio Council of Deans and Directors of Baccalaureate
and Higher Degree Nursing Programs, is required to make recommendations and prepare a
8 Section 3.
9 R.C. 3727.18(F); see R.C. 121.95 to 121.953, not in the bill.
10 R.C. 3727.182, as renumbered by the bill.
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report for the General Assembly. The report must be completed within three months after the
survey is completed.11
Civil immunity for self or other-defense and nonprofit
corporations
Background
Existing law, unchanged by the bill, provides that, subject to specified exceptions, a
concealed handgun licensee may carry a concealed handgun anywhere in Ohio if the licensee
also carries a valid license when in actual possession of a concealed handgun. The exceptions are:
(1) in any of nine specified categories of places (e.g., in specified circumstances, in a law
enforcement station, school safety zone, courthouse, D liquor permit premises, institution of
higher education, place of worship, government facility, or place prohibited under federal law),
(2) in a manner prohibited under the offense of “carrying concealed weapons” or “improperly
handling firearms in a motor vehicle,” (3) in violation of a private employer’s rule, policy, or
practice concerning or prohibiting the presence of firearms on the employer’s premises or
property, in specified circumstances, or (4) in violation of a sign properly posted by the owner or
person in control of private land or premises, or by the private person or entity lessee on
government land or premises, that prohibits persons from carrying firearms or concealed
firearms on the land or premises.12 An armed forces active duty member carrying specified types
of documentation has the same right to carry a concealed handgun in Ohio as a concealed
handgun licensee and is subject to the same restrictions.13
Existing law provides immunity from civil liability for certain entities for injury, death, or
loss to person or property allegedly caused by or related to a concealed handgun licensee
bringing a handgun onto the entity’s premises or property. The entities for which this immunity
is provided are private employers, political subdivisions, institutions of higher education, and
nonprofit corporations – the immunity also applies with respect to events organized by such
corporations but it does not apply for those employers, institutions, and corporations that acted
with malicious purpose. Private employers, institutions of higher education, and nonprofit
corporations also are provided immunity for injury, death, or loss to person or property allegedly
caused by or related to the employer’s, institution’s, or corporation’s decision to permit a
licensee to bring a handgun onto the premises or property of the private employer – the
immunity for private employers also expressly extends to a decision to prohibit a licensee from
bringing a handgun onto the premises or property.14
11 Section 4.
12 R.C. 2923.126(A) to (C).
13 R.C. 2923.126(D)(2).
14 R.C. 2923.126(C)(2).
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Operation of the bill
Immunity extended to for-profit corporation
The bill specifies that the immunities currently provided for nonprofit corporations, as
described above in “Background,” also apply to any for-profit corporation that leases its
property to the nonprofit corporation or permits its property to be used by the nonprofit
corporation for any purpose. The immunities are from civil liability for injury, death, or loss to
person or property allegedly caused by or related to: (1) a concealed handgun licensee bringing