4 Key Elements of an Effective Workplace Violence Prevention Plan (Part 3)

California’s new workplace violence prevention law requires employers to develop a multi-dimensional incident response system for dealing with workplace violence incidents in the workplace, and for employees who work in the community. 

So what is an incident response system?

In this piece, the third in a four part series, on the 4 critical elements of an effective workplace violence prevention program, I cover the necessary components of a multi-dimensional workplace violence incident response system.

I learned about violence, its causes, and its prevention, during my 30 years of conducting civil and criminal litigation investigations, and third-party fact-finding workplace investigations. And, in order to be effective at my own work, I had to develop approaches to keeping myself safe while working in some very dangerous environments.

The July 1st deadline is approaching. Get started developing your workplace violence prevention plan today by downloading my free CA workplace violence prevention checklist.  

Incident Response System

There are four main areas that California wants employers to focus on in crafting an effective incident response system:

•  Developing a workplace violence incident complaint and reporting system.
•  Implementing an effective investigation process for workplace violence complaints.
•  Preventing retaliation for those bringing a complaint and participating in an investigation.
•  Designating an incident response team, ensuring they know exactly what to do, how to do it, and ensuring their accountability.

Many employers already have a system in place for the first three of these elements. Likely to address other types of workplace misconduct. 

And that’s great. But, California wants your incident response systems to have employee input, and most employer processes that address typical types of workplace misconduct are top down, rather than bottom up.

So you’ll need to assess your practices to make sure that they have employee input, and are designed to be employee centric.

The fourth component is broader and covers much more ground. And is likely to be a new area of focus for many employers.

Creating a Workplace Violence Complaint and Reporting Process

When it comes to workplace violence issues, your complaint and reporting processes need to be convenient for employees, standardized, and confidential. They should instill confidence in your employees, not dread.

•  Identify how and to whom workplace violence related complaints should be reported.
•  If the chain of command is involved in the reporting process, clearly identify alternate approaches since workplace violence incidents can involve superiors.
•  Create a specific complaint form so that all complaints are done in writing.
•  Make sure that the complaint allows for a narrative of telling of the incident, identification of possible witnesses, and what outcome is sought.
•  You should also provide a confidentiality statement for the complainant to acknowledge as there is a balance that needs to be maintained between confidentiality and the ability to conduct an investigation.

An Effective Investigation Process that Instills Confidence

I conducted many workplace investigations for government agencies, private businesses, and nonprofit organizations related to violence and harassment incidents. The goal of these investigations are to get as close as possible to determining the fact pattern surrounding the incident. And to use that information to make decisions. 

These are the four keys to doing that in a way that instills confidence in your employees.

•  Standardizing the investigation process. You must follow the same processes with each investigation. Begin with interviewing the complainant. Identify witnesses to interview based upon that information. Then interview the respondent. And again identify witnesses to interview based upon that information. Interview the witnesses. Review employment files and any other documents that will help with the assessments. Assess the information. Report the information.
•  Maintaining confidentiality throughout. To ensure complete cooperation, especially from employee witnesses, you’ll need to ensure confidentiality throughout. And that includes in how you report the information developed during your investigation.
•  Witness interviews are the backbone of employment investigations. Make sure that whoever conducts the investigation is skilled in eliciting information effectively.
•  You must also standardized reporting the investigation including your findings, and separately, making recommendations.

Preventing Retaliation

California requires that employers prevent retaliation against those who bring forward a workplace violence complaint, and to protect those who participate in the investigation process.

The easiest part of preventing retaliation is creating a policy prohibiting retaliation. The harder part is enforcing that process. Employers must create a mechanism to ensure that there is no retaliation from co-workers, supervisors, or managers. 

There have been so many instances in which the perception of retaliation led to an escalation in violence up to and including killings. 

You must create an open door policy for reporting retaliation. You must implement accountability against those who engage in retaliation, and for those responsible for enforcing the policy against retaliation.

Designating a Response Team. Ensuring They Know What to Do and How to Do it.

While the first three components of incident response are familiar to many employers, this final element of incident response required under California’s new workplace violence prevention law will be unfamiliar for most employers.

And it is critical to get this element right.

•  Incident response teams. In your workplace violence prevention plan you must identify those individuals assigned to handle the different elements of your incident response approach. So in addition to identifying those who will receive and investigate complaints, but also who to be contacted, and who will be responsible for responding during a workplace violence incident, and who will provide training to other employees in different strategies to avoid physical harm.
•  Ensuring each person knows exactly what to do for any type of situation, from verbal threats to active violence incident. Once you’ve identified each person and what their responsibilities are, you’ll need to ensure that they are fully trained in their specific response duties. If someone is assigned to respond to a physical altercation, employers must make sure they have the training and skills to respond properly.
•  Accountability for those involved in an incident, and those responsible for handling them. Too often we hear of workplace violence incidents that escalated into serious events become someone in a position of responsibility failed to do his job. Employers must implement an accountability system to ensure that those who are part of the incident response team will properly do their assigned duties. 
•  Developing evacuation and sheltering in place plans. As part of an workplace violence incident response system, employers must ensure that employees are trained in ways to evacuate the workplace during an active incident. And what to do if they can’t evacuate, and must shelter in place. 

Are you feeling unsure about the workplace violence prevention plan you’ve drafted and would like someone experienced in workplace violence prevention to review what you’ve put together? Email me at [email protected].