4 Key Elements of an Effective Workplace Violence Prevention Plan (Part 1)

Workplace violence is preventable. But… 

Most employers never even think about it. And unless you focus on something you can’t prevent it from happening. So workplace violence keeps happening. 

There are almost 2,000,000 workplace violence incidents in the US each year. And that’s just the officially reported ones. The real numbers are likely much higher.

California upended that way of thinking. 

Its new workplace violence prevention law goes into effect on July 1st. It requires employers to “establish, implement, and maintain an effective workplace violence prevention plan.”

There are 4 key elements to consider when developing your workplace violence prevention plan. In this piece, part one of a 4 part series, we’ll focus on identifying the workplace violence hazards that are specific to your employees. 

I learned about violence, what causes it, and how it can be prevented, during my 30 years of conducting civil and criminal litigation investigations, as well as third-party fact-finding internal investigations. And, in order to be effective at my own work, I had to keep myself safe too. I worked regularly in some very dangerous environments.

California employers July 1st deadline is approaching. Get started working on your workplace violence prevention plan today by downloading my free CA workplace violence prevention checklist .

Identifying the Workplace Violence Hazards Your Employees Face

Workplace violence hazards that your employees face are determined by the types of sources of potential violence your employees interact with during the course and scope of their work.

California identifies four source types for workplace violence:

•  Type 1: Originates from intent to commit a criminal act such as robbery, or rape, 
•  Type 2: Originates from “invitees”, clients, customers, patients, whether at your workplace or their residence or business.
•  Type 3: Originates from co-workers, former co-workers, supervisors, managers etc.
•  Type 4: Originates from a current or former partner, or family member of an employee such as domestic violence that spills over into the workplace.

Once you’ve identified the potential sources for workplace violence hazards, you’ll next need to examine your employees interactions with those sources. 

For example, say your employees work extensively with invitees. You might begin your safety hazard assessment by answering some basic questions

Do your employees work one on one with a client or patient? 

Where do they meet with them? Is it at your workplace, their workplace, or home? 

Back when I worked as an investigator, most of my witness interviews, thousands of them, were done at the witness’s home, whether as a cold call by just showing up at the front door, or via an appointment.

I had zero control over the witness’ home environment. 

You do not know going into that environment who else is there. You don’t know whether there are firearms in the home, or even dogs (and I’m totally a dog person, but I understand most dogs view protecting their home and owners from strangers as their job).

So for me it became incumbent to assess the exit points in case I needed to leave if there were a problem.

I did this automatically with each home I entered. I did this 1000s of times, without incident. But, I was fully prepared just in case.

On occasion, the witness would come to my office. Sometimes with a friend or family member. In that environment, I still needed to be careful since I did not really know anything about the witnesses or their family members beyond their involvement in the case I was working on, but I did know my environment.

So I was able to pre-arrange the physical set up of my physical space to ensure that no one could trap me inside the space.

I also was able to ensure that I had good visibility of the parking area, so that I could see the witness arrive and also depart.

It’s not just investigators who have to think this way, anyone in the legal field, healthcare field, remodeling and maintenance, real estate, insurance, or any other service profession must assess potential risks that arise from working at a client’s business or residence.

And must also assess risks within your own workplace when the invitee is present at your workplace.

The risks from invitees at your workplace include their ability to walk around the environment, use the restroom, get coffee, make a phone call provides inherent risk.

You also will have to deal with friends and family members of invitees too. Very often a client or customer will come in with someone else even though the appointment is just for the invitee.

In addition, the locations where you meet must be assessed for their ability to trap your employee in a confined space.

Let’s look at a restaurant as another example.

Restaurants handle cash. So you have to factor in the risk of robbery (type 2).

I’ve knew a woman who worked as a restaurant manager who was shot while opening up one morning, because a robber thought she’d be bringing cash with her to open up.

I also trained in self-defense, a restaurant manager, who after closing the restaurant at night was confronted on multiple occasions by armed robbers in the parking lot.

Add those potential safety hazards, that where alcohol is served, the chance for physical altercations, and domestic violence increases directed at customers or at your employees. (Type 4)

Parking lots can also serve as either a starting point for a follow home robbery, or can be the location of a robbery or assault.

There are also customers, who feel “entitled” rather than grateful, who will mistreat staff, and even become verbally abusive, because they feel they can get away with it. (Type 2)

And, there’s always a risk that a customer, has anger management issues and takes that out on your staff too. Or that one of your employees or supervisors does too. (Type 3)

And finally, because of the extent of panhandling, patrons and staff may have to deal with members of the public who have deep emotional troubles that can lead to violence.

Over the next successive weeks, I’ll cover three additional key elements necessary for an effective workplace violence prevention plan.

Get started working on your workplace violence prevention plan today by downloading my free CA workplace violence prevention checklist.