Self-Defense's Role in Workplace Violence Prevention

Protecting the health and safety of employees is California’s goal with the new workplace violence prevention law.

As part of that goal, California requires employers to train employees in strategies to avoid physical harm from workplace violence. 

California is right to focus on avoiding physical harm. Words can be hurtful. But, the lasting damage to employees, and the organizations, they work for, from physical harm is far more devastating to both. These are just a few of the tangible effects of employees suffering physical harm from workplace violence: 

•  Extended periods of missed work.
•  PTSD
•  Higher absenteeism and turnover.
•  Feeling less engaged with co-workers and employers.
•  Lower productivity.
•  Lessened community engagement, and damage to community reputation.
•  Higher insurance costs.

Employee self-defense training is one of the most important strategies for employers to incorporate to help your employees avoid physical harm from workplace violence. It doesn’t just tell employees that they matter. It shows them. 

It’s also great for team building, and improving workplace engagement and creating a cohesive work environment.

California new workplace violence law requires employers to implement a workplace violence prevention program, including providing training to employees in strategies to avoid physical harm from workplace violence. 

I put together a free guide to help employers ensure that their violence prevention program is effective. It’s based on what I learned from 30+ years of conducting civil, criminal, and workplace investigations into real life violence incidents, as well as what I implemented in order to keep myself safe while working in some very dangerous places. I’ve helped employers implement these approaches into their workplace violence prevention programs for over a decade.   

Self-defense and California Law

Some employers are reluctant to embrace employee self-defense training. California doesn’t have such reluctance.

California law authorizes self-defense and the defense of others when threatened with violence. And that authorization extends to the workplace. In fact, it’s incorporated into the new workplace violence prevention law. Sec 4, 6401.9 (7) states, “Workplace violence” does not include lawful acts of self-defense or defense of others.”

California sets three requirements for an act of self-defense, or an act in defense of others, to be lawful. The three elements are:

•  That any force used be proportional in response to the level of threatened danger. And this  means using no more force than is reasonably necessary to defend against the danger.
•  That a person using force in defense of themselves or in defense of others, have a reasonable belief of being in imminent danger of suffering bodily injury. And that means the threat that you are facing, is immediate in nature, not something that may or may not happen in the future.
•  And finally, that the person who engages in self-defense or in defense of others have a reasonable belief that immediate use of force was necessary due to a reasonable fear of imminent harm.

It’s basically the reasonable person standard. If you reasonably fear for your safety, and are in a situation where a threatening person has the present ability to harm you or others, you are allowed to avoid physical harm to yourself or others through engaging with the threatening individual.

Self-Defense is the Last Chance Strategy to Avoid Physical Harm from Workplace Violence

The sole purpose of self-defense is to avoid physical harm from a violent attack. So it aligns perfectly with California’s workplace violence prevention law requirements.  

Violence is not linear. It doesn’t follow specific steps each and every time. Attackers don’t say, first I’ll talk, second I’ll yell, third I’ll attack. They launch an attack when it works for them. 

When avoidance, and de-escalation, don’t work, or when a physical attack has already begun. Self-defense is the only way to avoid physical harm from violence. It is literally your employees’ last chance to avoid physical harm.

The Realities of a Physical Attack 

Self-defense training should reflect the realities of a physical attack. Here’s what to know: 

•  Most attacks are over and done in 7 seconds or less.
•  Most attacks, and especially those targeting women in the workplace, are committed by a person known to the victim.
•  Most attacks are premeditated, even if the attacker formulates his plan just a few seconds before the attack occurs. 
•  Attackers use the element of surprise, with little to no warning before launching an attack.
•  The vast majority of attacks begin with a right hand punch with the goal of putting you on the ground, where you are at a major disadvantage, due to your ability to move being restricted. Being on the ground is like dealing with an extra attacker.

Using Self-defense to Avoid Physical Harm

 Self-defense should focus on a few basic principles:

•  Engaging only long enough with the attacker to create the opportunity to exit safely.
•  Surviving the initial onslaught of the attack.
•  Taking away the attacker’s initial advantage.
•  Forcing the attacker onto the defensive making him recalibrate his attack.

 For self-defense to be effective as a strategy to avoid physical harm, it needs to work for all of your employees regardless of size, strength, or physical condition. It needs to be simple to perform, and to be effective, must be patterned so that it becomes automatic.

Learn more about strategies to avoid physical harm as required under California's workplace violence prevention law.