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Healthcare WVP Compliance Glossary
Plain-English definitions of the vocabulary a surveyor, compliance officer, or healthcare attorney uses when discussing workplace violence prevention — from Texas HSC Chapter 331 and 26 TAC §133.55 to the Joint Commission’s SAFER Matrix and OSHA’s General Duty Clause. Use it to read a statement of deficiencies, a survey report, or a VIGILO proposal with confidence.
Jump to a term (36 terms)
Glossary definitions
- 26 TAC §133.55
- The Texas HHSC administrative rule (adopted Oct. 11, 2024) that implements Chapter 331 for general and special hospitals — what a licensure surveyor checks against.
- Abatement
- The corrective action and deadline OSHA requires to fix a cited hazard.
- Annual Plan Evaluation
- The yearly committee review of the WVP plan, reported to the governing body — a statutory recurring obligation.
- Anti-Retaliation
- Protection prohibiting discipline or discrimination against staff who report violence in good faith, including non-discouragement of contacting law enforcement.
- ASC
- Ambulatory Surgical Center — a covered facility class under Ch. 331.
- Condition of Participation (CoP)
- A CMS requirement for Medicare/Medicaid participation; there is no standalone WVP CoP, but WVP failures can surface under patient-safety, environment, governing-body, and QAPI CoPs.
- CPL 02-01-058
- OSHA’s enforcement directive for investigating workplace-violence hazards.
- CSHO
- OSHA Compliance Safety and Health Officer — the inspector who conducts an OSHA investigation.
- De-Escalation
- Verbal and behavioral techniques to reduce a person’s agitation before it becomes violence; a core training topic.
- EC (Environment of Care)
- The TJC standards chapter housing the worksite-analysis and incident-tracking WVP requirements.
- Element of Performance (EP)
- The specific, scorable sub-requirement under a TJC standard; EP numbers are version-sensitive and must be cited from the current manual.
- Environment of Care (EOC) Security Risk Assessment
- A compliance-framed assessment of the physical environment’s WVP vulnerabilities — VIGILO’s offering, never a guard/patrol service.
- FSED
- Freestanding Emergency Medical Care Facility — a covered facility class under Ch. 331.
- General Duty Clause
- OSH Act §5(a)(1) — the legal basis OSHA uses to cite workplace violence where no specific standard exists.
- Governing Body
- A facility’s board/leadership authority; Ch. 331 requires the annual plan evaluation to be reported to it.
- Hazard Alert Letter
- An OSHA letter flagging a recognized hazard (common in healthcare WVP, where no specific standard exists) short of a formal citation.
- HCSSA
- Home & Community Support Services Agency — Texas-licensed home health and hospice providers; covered by Ch. 331 when they employ ≥2 RNs.
- HR (Human Resources)
- The TJC standards chapter housing the WVP training requirement.
- HSC Chapter 331
- The Texas Health & Safety Code chapter (added by SB 240, 2023) that requires covered healthcare facilities to adopt and maintain a WVP plan; the core mandate VIGILO serves.
- Joint Commission (TJC)
- The leading healthcare accreditor; its WVP requirements (effective Jan. 1, 2022 for hospitals) span the EC, HR, and LD chapters.
- LD (Leadership)
- The TJC standards chapter housing the designated-WVP-leader requirement.
- OSHA 300 Log
- The federal injury-and-illness recordkeeping log (29 CFR 1904); serious assault injuries are recordable and are cross-checked against the WVP incident log.
- OSHA Publication 3148
- OSHA’s “Guidelines for Preventing Workplace Violence for Healthcare and Social Service Workers,” organized around five program components.
- PL 2024-10
- The HHSC Provider Letter applying Chapter 331 to home-health and hospice agencies (HCSSAs) that employ two or more RNs.
- Plan of Correction (POC)
- The facility’s written, dated remediation plan submitted after a survey deficiency.
- Post-Incident Response
- The required support after an event — acute treatment for affected staff, work-assignment adjustment, debrief, and EAP referral.
- QAPI
- Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement — the CMS-required improvement program where WVP trending can live.
- R3 Report
- TJC’s “Requirement, Rationale, Reference” publication; Issue 45 explains the WVP requirements.
- RFI (Requirement for Improvement)
- A TJC finding of non-compliance the facility must correct.
- SAFER Matrix
- TJC’s scoring grid that rates a finding by likelihood of harm and scope (limited/pattern/widespread).
- SB 240
- The 2023 Texas Senate bill that created HSC Chapter 331.
- Statement of Deficiencies
- The official document listing findings from a licensure or CMS survey (the CMS form is the 2567).
- Tracer Methodology
- The survey technique of following a patient, incident, or staff member through the system to test whether documentation matches practice.
- Workplace Violence Prevention (WVP)
- A program of policies, committee oversight, assessment, training, reporting, and post-incident response designed to reduce violence against healthcare workers and document compliance.
- Worksite Analysis
- A proactive assessment (records + walkthrough + employee input) of WVP hazards; required annually by TJC and as Component 2 of OSHA Pub. 3148.
- WVP Committee
- The standing committee Ch. 331 requires, which must include an RN providing direct care, a physician providing direct care (if employed), and a security-services employee (if employed).
Primary sources
TX HSC Chapter 331 (SB 240, 2023); 26 TAC §133.55; HHSC PL 2024-10; The Joint Commission Workplace Violence Prevention requirements (R3 Report 45, effective Jan. 1, 2022); OSHA General Duty Clause §5(a)(1), Publication 3148, and CPL 02-01-058.
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What you get
- Plain-English definitions of the core Texas statute and rules — HSC Chapter 331, SB 240, 26 TAC §133.55, and PL 2024-10.
- The Joint Commission survey vocabulary — EC / HR / LD chapters, RFI, SAFER Matrix, tracer methodology, and the R3 Report.
- The OSHA terms that govern healthcare WVP — the General Duty Clause, Publication 3148, the OSHA 300 Log, abatement, and the CSHO.
- The committee, training, and post-incident terms that appear in every survey and proposal.
- A clear note on VIGILO’s scope: an environment-of-care security risk assessment is a compliance exercise, never a guard or patrol service.
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