Is Your Business Ready for California's New Workplace Violence Law? Here's How to Get Started Developing a Plan

Is your business ready for California’s new workplace violence prevention law?

If not. Don’t panic. You’ve come to the right place!

In this piece, I’ll show you how to get started creating an effective workplace violence prevention program that  with California’s new law.

And in successive pieces, I’ll take you through the different components of an effective workplace violence prevention program that you can, customize and implement, based upon your specific workplace violence risks and safety needs.

This new law takes effect on July 1, 2024. So why not get started today!

Hi! I’m Mike Corwin. I help businesses, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies develop and implement workplace violence prevention programs that keep your staff safe while serving your community.

I spent 30 years conducting investigations, including numerous work related violence incidents, and I spent a lot of time working in some pretty dangerous areas myself. Based upon my experiences, I’ve developed a comprehensive approach to helping organizations like yours implement workplace violence prevention programs that work.

I want to help you get started right now in developing an effective workplace violence prevention program. I’ve got a FREE workplace violence prevention checklist for you to use. It identifies the critical steps you need to implement, from an effective complaint and investigation process, to assessing the physical environment, to situational awareness and de-escalation, and even self-defense, that will help you comply with the new law while keeping your staff safe.

To download it now, simply click on the link here.

California's New Workplace Violence Prevention Law

On September 30, 2023 California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 553. This bill added a work violence prevention program requirement to the state’s labor code. California and several other states already had a law regarding workplace violence prevention in healthcare settings.

But this new law is far broader in scope. It covers the vast majority of businesses operating in California. In fact, it extends work violence prevention requirements to pretty much any organization that engages with the public in any way.

California’s law is groundbreaking in its reach. It came about following multiple horrific mass shootings. But, the law is designed to help prevent a wide variety of workplace violence well beyond shootings.

Here’s what you need to know.

Employer's Responsibility

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

But it requires much more than just a plan. It requires employers to implement a complete workplace violence prevention program.

Employers must record every workplace violence incident into a violent incident log. In it, you must identify the circumstances of the incident, the physical environment and conditions where the incident occurred, including in parking lots and other outside of work settings. You must describe the nature of the incident, and the specific actions you’ve taken to protect your staff from any continuing threat or hazard.

Employers must also provide effective training on workplace violence prevention. Training must include how and where to report threats, how to respond to violence, and strategies to avoid physical harm.

Employers must also document, and identify, through evaluation and assessment, the specific workplace violence hazards your staff faces, as well as corrective actions to eliminate the risk from those specific hazards.

In addition, employers must develop both an effective workplace violence incident reporting system, and an investigation process for any complaints that submitted. You must also have a policy prohibiting retaliation against anyone who brings a complaint.

You also must describe in detail how you will conduct investigations of workplace violence incidents and how the information developed from your investigations will be used to eliminate workplace violence hazards.

Employers must also create a specific communication and alert procedure for different types of workplace violence emergencies that might develop.

That’s a lot for an employer to implement. So where should you begin?

How to Get Started Creating a Workplace Violence Prevention Plan and Program

With an assessment of the types of risks your staff faces starting with identifying from whom and from where safety threats can occur. And you also must assess the physical work environment to identify any vulnerabilities that increase the risk of violent incidents and what changes you can make to reduce those risks.

And here’s what you need to know in order to get started with that.

There are four general types of workplace violence related incidents. Begin your assessment by determining which sources of violence your staff is at greatest risk from. There may be only one type of risk, or there may be multiple sources of risk.

It’s better to broaden rather than limit your assessment of possible sources of violence.

• Type 1 Violence is where violence is committed by someone with no legitimate business at the worksite. This includes people who enter the worksite to commit a crime like robbery.
• Type 2 Violence is violence committed by customers, clients, patients, students, visitors, or vendors. I call these individuals invitees because they have a legitimate basis to engage with your staff.
• Type 3 Violence is violence committed by current or former employees, supervisors or managers. This is what most people think of when they think of workplace violence.
• Type 4 Violence is violence committed by a person who does not work at the worksite, but has or had a personal relationship with an employee. Primarily the risk of domestic violence spilling over into the workplace.

It is critical to know as you create a program that the law specifically exempts, and therefore recognizes as legitimate, acts of self-defense or actions done in the defense of others. So think about scenarios your staff encounters where they may need to defend themselves or others and assess what training would assist them in doing so.

Next, you’ll need to conduct a physical assessment of your work environment. That requires thinking about both the interior layout, and the exterior layout too. Look at lighting, and ingress and egress to your location. Take note of any physical or visual obstructions including shrubs, walls, and even dumpster locations that can increase staff’s vulnerability to violence. Consider walkways to and from the work site, and access points to parking areas and to the street.

Also, consider the physical environment safety risks for your staff who work in the community including at client’s residences, and business locations. Assess the safety risks your staff could face while at someone else’s location. Also evaluate for safety risks, the overall community where they travel in such as streets, parking lots, and parking garages and how those places can increase their safety risk.

This assessment will serve as your starting point as it helps you to identify areas to make physical improvements as well as the focus of your prevention training.

There’s many more factors to assess that I cover in my Workplace Violence Prevention Checklist.

In it I’ve provided you with the critical steps that will help you comply with the new law and to keep your safer from violence.

Click here to download this checklist.

In my next piece on complying with California’s new workplace violence prevention law, we’ll look at creating and implementing a complaint and investigation process that ensures your staff knows where and how to report concerns, and how to conduct a thorough, unbiased, investigation that will guide employment decisions.