Evaluate the Effectiveness of Your Workplace Violence Prevention Program

Ever catch the tv show Bar Rescue? 

If so, you might be familiar with a segment of the program where Jon Taffer, the show’s host, packs a bar with patrons so he can gauge the effectiveness the bar’s management and staff in real time. 

Workplace violence prevention is not a static process. So, it’s important to review the effectiveness of your workplace violence prevention program and make adjustments as needed. In fact, California’s new workplace violence prevention law requires that you do so. 

But, unlike the “stress test” in Bar Rescue, replicating workplace violence incidents isn’t practical. There are just too many different ways that workplace violence can occur for you to be able to do so efficiently. 

In this piece, we’ll look at how to assess the effectiveness of your workplaceI violence prevention program without inundating your staff with “real life” drills.  

I learned a lot about what does and doesn’t work to prevent violence during the 30 plus years that I conducted investigations into workplace and community violence, and applied what I learned in the 10 plus years that I’ve provided workplace violence prevention consulting and training services to employers. 

California’s new workplace violence prevention law sent a lot of employers into uncharted waters, as most employers aren’t familiar enough with violence to know how to prevent it. My California Employers Workplace Violence Prevention Checklist can help you take the guesswork out of creating a workplace violence prevention plan that protects your employees and complies with California’s new law.   

The Requirement to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Your Violence Prevention Program

Hopefully your employees haven’t experienced any workplace violence incidents since you implemented your workplace violence prevention program. But that doesn’t mean you can dub your efforts a success and move onto other things. You still have to review your plan for effectiveness regardless of whether you’ve had an incident or not.

California requires employers to have in place “procedures to review the effectiveness of the plan and revise as needed”, and how often to conduct such a review, “the plan shall be reviewed at least annually, when a deficiency is observed, or becomes apparent, and after a workplace violence incident.”

California requires employers to have in place “procedures to review the effectiveness of the plan and revise as needed”, and how often to conduct such a review, “the plan shall be reviewed at least annually, when a deficiency is observed, or becomes apparent, and after a workplace violence incident.”  

What to Review When Assessing the Effectiveness of Your Prevention Program

So what should you look at in order to review your prevention program for effectiveness?

Roughly speaking, you should conduct your effectiveness assessment by breaking down the required elements of the program and reviewing each element independently. Look for how you determined the approach you took, any issues you encountered in your processes, and what changes you’d make to those different elements.

And a critical element of your effectiveness review is to look at how your prevention program addresses the four source types of workplace violence, and the different ways they can impact your employees.

For most prevention programs that means you be reviewing:

•  The assessment process to identify safety hazards. 
•  The remediation approaches to address those safety hazards.
•  The complaint and investigation processes. 
•  The violent incident log.  
•  Training. 

I would also use Subdivision C of the Workplace Violence Prevention Law, which identifies the required elements of your prevention program to determine the specific elements of your program to review for effectiveness:

•  Identify effective procedures to obtain the active involvement of employees in developing and implementing the plan through their participation in identifying, evaluating, and correcting workplace violence hazards, in designing and implementing training, and in reporting and investigating workplace violence incidents.
•  Effective procedures to accept and respond to reports of workplace violence and prohibit retaliation against employees who report.
•  Effective procedures to ensure compliance with prevention plan.
•  Effective procedures to communicate with employees about workplace violence incidents including how to report concerns, how those concerns will be investigated, and disciplinary action taken.
•  Effective procedures to respond to actual or potential workplace violence emergencies including how to alert employees to an incident, evacuation and sheltering plans, how to obtain help from staff assigned to incident response. 

You’ll also want to assess the effectiveness of the types of employee workplace violence prevention trainings that you implemented within your program, including training on safety hazards and their remediation, as well as strategies to avoid physical harm from violence.  

You’ll want to assess whether the trainings you provide to your employees accomplish their goals, whether there are any observable gaps in what is covered, and whether there are more effective ways to train your employees.

The required trainings to review include: 

•  The workplace violence prevention plan, and how employees can help the develop and implement the plan.
•  The definitions and requirements of the prevention law.
•  How to report violence incidents or concerns.
•  Workplace violence hazards specific to employees’ jobs, and the corrective measures implemented for those hazards.
•  How to seek assistance to prevent or respond to violence.
•  Strategies to avoid physical harm from violence.
•  The violent incident log.
•  Training in any new workplace violence hazards that arise, and the corrective measures developed for those newly recognized hazards.

What to Look For in Your Effectiveness Review

So when it comes to your prevention program what matters most to effectiveness? 

Specificity.  

Specificity as to the safety hazards your employees face, and how to minimize the risks from those specific safety hazards. 

Specificity as to what is conveyed to each and every employee. Employees should know exactly what to do in a variety of different situations, including who to report an incident to, and what information should be reported. 

Specificity as to employees knowing exactly what steps to take throughout the process. 

Specificity, both as how and to who to bring a complaint to. And who will conduct the investigation, and the processes for each of those elements. Including addressing any conflict of interests should a complaint deal with management. 

Specificity as to what safety practices to be followed within specific circumstances. Each person that works in the reception area of your workplace should know the specific safety visitor practices to take with each visitor. 

Specificity as to what is covered in the trainings, and the steps your employees need to take to implement the information covered in the trainings.  

For each and every aspect of your workplace violence prevention program look at the level of specificity included within the plan. If there is a lack of clarity as to the specific actions required, the specific person to contact, and the specific work processes to adopt. 

If so, your program is effective. And that is what California expects from employers. 

Workplace violence prevention is not static. Conducting an annual review of your workplace violence prevention program will help you to ensure that you’re complying with California’s requirements, and helping your employees be safe from all four source types of workplace violence.

Complying with California law and keeping your employees safer means not just creating  a prevention plan, but implementing, and maintaining it too. My book the California Workplace Violence Prevention Manual can help you do that.  Check it out here. 

Ready to explore your options on complying with California’s new workplace violence prevention law requirements and keeping your staff safe from the trauma of workplace violence. Schedule your free consultation. We’ll discuss your specific workplace violence prevention needs and the most effective ways to address them.