California's Annual Workplace Violence Prevention Requirements

California’s workplace violence prevention law is not a one and done, “set it and forget it” law.

The law states, “an employer shall establish, implement, and maintain an effective workplace violence prevention plan.” 

And to maintain the workplace violence prevention program, California requires employers to take specific actions. 

Each year, you need to review your workplace violence prevention program for effectiveness, identify any definiciencies, and make the necessary changes to remedy those deficiencies, as well as provide a variety of workplace violence prevention trainings to your employees.

The time to review and update your violence prevention program, and to provide training to your employees, will be here soon.

In this piece, we’ll look at the what employers must do to comply with California’s annual requirements to maintain an effective workplace violence prevention program.

Preventing workplace violence is different from preventing other workplace issues. It requires an understanding of how violence happens to be able to do so effectively. And there’s no pound of cure if you get it wrong. Even one workplace violence incident can cause long term harm to your employees and to your organization.

California requires employers to annually train employees annually in strategies to avoid physical harm from the specific workplace violence safety hazards they face. Take the guesswork out of getting this requirement right. Watch my free, convenient, training on demystifying strategies to avoid physical harm. 

Requirements to Review Annually for Effectiveness

California requires employers to”review the effectiveness of the plan, and revise the plan as needed.” It requires having the active involvement of emplyees in that review process. And the review should occur, “at least annually, when a deficiency is observed or becomes apparent, and after a workplace violence incident.”

Statistically, most organizations have not experienced a workplace violence incident. So you’ll likely be lacking data to use to conduct this review. Having actionable data for assessment purposes is main purpose of the requirement to keep a violent incident log.

I’ve previously covered how to develop the information necessary to assess your employees’ workplace violence safety hazards when you don’t have any violence incidents to use for data. 

Interviewing you employees is critcal to developing information regarding the effectiveness of your prevention program. And approaching this process using employee interviews also satisfies California’s requirements to actively involve employees in this process. Make sure to interview a representative sample of employees based upon the type of work they do for you.

Interviews should address the processes already implemented, as well as the type of safety hazards face and if that has changed at, your approaches to minimize those risks, and whether the training you provide is sufficient to ensure that they understand the nature of the risks, know what to do to minimize them, and how to avoid physical harm should a violence incident occur.

Requirements for Annual Employee Training

California requires employers to “provide employees with initial training when the plan is first established, and annually thereafter.”

You don’t need to guess what trainings to provide, as the law specifically identifies the trainings employers must provide annually. Remember that employers also need to obtain the participation of employees in determing the types of training to provide. So make sure your employees have the opporturnity to weigh in. Those trainings include:

•  The workplace violence prevention plan, and how employees can participate in the development and implementation of the program.
•  The definitions and requirements of the prevention law.
•  How to report violence incidents or concerns about safety to employers or if necessary, to law enforcement. And how the employer will prevent retaliation for reporting such concerns.
•  Workplace violence hazards specific to employees’ jobs, and the corrective measures implemented for those hazards, including for any new safety hazards that have been identified since the intitial training, and in the approach that the employer has implemented in order to address those newly identified safety hazards.
•  How employees can seek assistance in order to prevent or respond to violence.
•  Strategies to avoid physical harm from violence. Employers should assess the types of training they’ve provided to employees in strategies to avoid physical harm, and determine whether those strategies are the most relevant trainings based upon the specific safety hazards employees face, and to provide the most beneficial trainings to employees based upon the safety hazards, including any newly identified safety hazards, to help them avoid physical harm. 
•  The violent incident log.
•  Training should include an interactive questions and answers session with a person knowledgable about the employer’s plan.
•  And finally, training in any workplace violence hazards that arose prior to the yearly requirements, and the corrective measures that were implemented at that time.

To be effective, your workplace violence prevention program needs regular assessments of safety hazards from the four different source types. And regular employee training in those safety hazards. And strategies to avoid physical harm.

California employers are required to provide training to your employees annually in strategies to avoid physical harm. Now might be the best time to do so. Schedule your free consultation and we’ll discuss the specific safety hazards your employees face, and the most effective strategies for them to avoid physical harm.