Following a seven-year effort by U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, the U.S. House on Thursday passed legislation he introduced that would require health care and social service employers to write and implement workplace violence prevention plans.

The bill, the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act, H.R. 1309, directs the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, to require employers to write and implement these plans. OSHA doesn't currently address workplace violence.

And while assault on a health care worker is a Class B felony in Connecticut, the statute only applies if a person shows intent to stop the employee from doing his or her job, which can be tough to prove.

"Workplace assaults against nurses, health care professionals, and social service workers occur more often than in any other profession," Courtney said in a statement announcing House passage of the bill by a vote of 251-158.

Health care and social service workers — including nurses, social workers and psychiatric, home health and personal care aides — suffered 69 percent of all workplace violence injuries in 2017, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"These are some of the same people we depend on to take care of us when we need it most, and they shouldn't have to fear for their own lives while they're at work trying to save ours," he said.

The legislation is co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, a Virginia Democrat.

In 2013, Courtney first requested that the Government Accountability Office study trends of workplace violence in the health care sector and identify options for OSHA to curtail it. Since then, Courtney has worked with a host of health care and social service professionals to build support for the legislation.