Signaling a potential breakthrough on a bill that has bottomed out on Beacon Hill for over a decade, the House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday advanced legislation addressing the growing problem of violence in health care workplaces, setting up a Wednesday floor vote.

The bill (H 4767) represents the collaborative work of the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association, Mass. Nurses Association and the state division of 1199SEIU. It would require health care employers to adopt comprehensive violence-prevention systems and create new criminal and privacy protections for workers.

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It cleared the Ways and Means Committee by a vote of 31-0, a margin that signals the bill is likely on track to advance to the Senate.

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