CENTEGIX: Healthcare Workers Want Better Safety Measures, But Draw the Line at Surveillance

More than two-thirds of healthcare workers have personally experienced at least one violent incident on the job in the past year, and nearly three-quarters have witnessed one, according to CENTEGIX’s newly released “2026 Healthcare Workforce Safety Report.” The survey of 639 healthcare workers — all of whom interact with patients, family members or visitors at least once a week — was conducted in January.

Sixty-one percent of respondents said their organization’s safety efforts do not demonstrate a strong concern for their security, and just 36% reported receiving both safety training and drill practice over the past 12 months. Another 15% said they received neither.

Andrea Greco, SVP of Healthcare Safety at CENTEGIX, told SecurityInfoWatch the disconnect isn’t primarily about whether organizations are investing in safety. Instead, it’s about how those investments are executed. “When a tool or resource is implemented simply to check a box, rather than as a meaningful component of a broader safety strategy, both adoption and perceived value suffer," she said. “Ongoing training, clear expectations around reporting and regular drills are essential to building muscle memory and reinforcing trust in available resources.”

Forty-eight percent of respondents said safety concerns affect their ability to provide compassionate care, and 54% said staff safety measures are a top priority when evaluating a job.

The report was released during Workplace Violence Prevention Month, which is promoted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to raise awareness and reduce violent incidents, particularly in healthcare and social service settings.

“While April marks Workplace Violence Prevention Month, protecting and supporting healthcare workers is a year-round priority,” Greco said. “Amid the industry’s ongoing workforce crisis, healthcare security leaders have reached a critical point: when workforce safety isn't prioritized, the consequences extend beyond staffing shortages and burnout to impact the quality of patient care.”

What workers actually want

When asked which measures would make them feel safest during their workday, healthcare workers ranked security personnel first at 55%, followed by user-activated wearable duress buttons at 42% and video monitoring and security cameras at 30%. Greco said those elements need to work together. “Security personnel, duress systems and video solutions should function as a unified, force-multiplying system, not as siloed tools,” she said. “This starts with a data-driven understanding of an organization's unique risks and resources.”

Greco said effective integration of those tools delivers measurable results. “When these elements are integrated effectively, organizations gain faster response times, stronger situational awareness, and reliable data capture — critical components of a true culture of safety,” she said.

Employees who had access to wearable duress buttons showed 12% higher perceptions of organizational support, 19% greater feelings of protection and 25% stronger confidence in their organization's response to active-shooter situations compared to those without one. Forty-five percent of workers with the technology said it improves their ability to deliver quality care.

The surveillance question

Nearly 70% of respondents said they would prefer a wearable duress button that only shares their location when they actively trigger an alert, rather than one that tracks them continuously. Greco said that preference should inform how organizations design and communicate their safety programs.

“When staff know that location sharing is triggered only during an emergency, when they request support, it reinforces trust and increases adoption,” she said. “Designing systems this way sends a powerful message: the organization is committed to protecting its people without compromising their autonomy.”

Greco added that how technology is positioned to staff matters as much as how it functions. “User-activated solutions reinforce that technology exists to protect — not monitor — staff, which is critical in today's environment of burnout and workforce strain,” she said.

Closing the readiness gap

With only 36% of workers having completed both training and drills in the past year, Greco said organizations need to move past isolated tools and toward what she described as “an integrated, layered safety strategy — one that connects technology, people, data and policy into a cohesive system that is intuitive for frontline staff to use.”

Greco explained safety data generated by integrated systems should be used for proactive risk management. “Integrated systems should generate meaningful data that enables proactive risk mitigation, identifying high-risk areas, informing staffing decisions, and strengthening the business case for future investments,” she said.

The report outlines several recommendations for healthcare organizations, including adopting holistic layered safety plans, investing in solutions that enable faster response times, prioritizing worker privacy in device implementation and providing hands-on scenario-based training that addresses the full scope of workplace violence.

The full report is available at centegix.com.