Blog - Tag: workplace violence
A Reminder of Your Workplace Violence Prevention Annual Obligations
As the one-year anniversary of California’s workplace violence prevention law approaches, employers will need to take steps to ensure their continued compliance.
The law requires all California employers with 10 or more staff to have a workplace violence prevention plan and to provide training to employees on the plan by July 1, 2024. It also requires employers to revisit the plan annually and conduct new training.
It’s important that employers comply with the law, as Cal/OSHA is actively enforcing all aspects of it during its standard workplace safety inspections. Noncompliance with SB 553 can result in fines ranging from $18,000 to $25,000 per violation.
Here’s what employers need to focus on:
Updating the plan
Employers should revisit their workplace violence prevention plan annually to make sure it’s up to date.
Under the law, an effective workplace violence prevention plan:
- Identifies who is responsible for implementing and managing the plan. This may need to be updated if a new person is assigned this responsibility.
- Includes details for how to accept and respond to reports of workplace violence. This may need to be changed if there is a new person to report incidents to.
- Prohibits retaliation against employees who report incidents of workplace violence.
- Includes details for communicating with employees regarding workplace violence matters, including how to report a violent incident, threat or other workplace violence concern; effective ways to alert employees to the presence of a workplace violence emergency; and how to obtain help from staff assigned to respond and/or law enforcement (personnel may have changed, so the plan may need updating).
- Lays out instructions for responding to actual and potential emergencies.
- Includes procedures for post-incident response and investigation.
- Requires the employer to provide effective training upon hire and once a year thereafter.
- Requires the employer to identify, evaluate and correct workplace violence hazards. This may need to be updated if a new hazard is identified.
- Requires the employer to post incident response and investigations.
Training
Employers are required to train their employees on the plan and provide training materials that are easy to understand. Training must be conducted upon hire and once a year thereafter.
Training must include:
- Familiarizing employees with the plan and how to participate in developing and implementing it.
- Definitions and requirements of California Labor Code Section 6401.9, which codifies the workplace violence prevention law.
- Information on how to report workplace violence incidents without fear of retaliation.
- Job-specific violence hazards and preventive measures.
- Explaining the purpose of the violent incident log and how to obtain related records.
- The opportunity for employees to ask questions and get more information about your plan.
Record-keeping
Employers are required to keep up-to-date records, including any incidents in the past year. Required records include:
- Workplace violence hazard identification, evaluations and any corrections made, which must be maintained for at least five years.
- Training, which must be kept for one year.
- Violent incidents, which must be kept for at least five years.
- Workplace violence incident investigations, which must be kept for at least five years.
A final word
While we are only one year into the law, it’s important that employers foster open communication and encourage employees to report potential hazards and concerns without fear of retaliation.
Also, regularly check for Cal/OSHA updates and other agencies to ensure you are compliant. If you need assistance, consider partnering with compliance experts to streamline the process.
Is Your Business Doing Enough to Prevent Workplace Violence?
Violence in the workplace is a growing problem for which many U.S. employers are unprepared.
Business owners may believe that their workforces are like families and that a violent outburst could never happen at work. They may also think that they have adequate security in place to stop an outsider from launching an attack or that their business would never be a target. These assumptions are probably mistaken.
Violence can take many forms and result in injuries or death, and employers are increasingly advised to put in place security and workplace violence prevention measures. Besides the human toll, a number of insurance policies may come into play after an incident.
In 2020, 20,050 workers in private U.S. businesses suffered non-fatal workplace violence trauma. Another 392 workers were killed. While three-quarters of the non-fatal victims worked in health care, more than 30% of those killed worked in retail. Employees at gas stations and convenience stores were particularly at risk.
Government is starting to address the problem. A California law taking effect July 1, 2024 will require employers to implement written workplace violence prevention plans. These must include annual workplace violence prevention training, incident logs and other recordkeeping.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration created guidance for health care employers about workplace violence prevention. It cited several hospital systems in 2023 for failure to provide safe workplaces.
Insurance
Companies that have suffered a workplace incident can turn to several insurance policies,
including:
- Workers’ compensation, for injuries suffered by employees or their deaths. One workers’ comp insurer has reported that the rate of workplace violence injuries has quadrupled over the past 25 years and the cost of those claims has doubled.
- Commercial general liability insurance, for injuries and property damage suffered by members of the public on the business’s premises at the time of the incident.
- Employment practices liability insurance, for employees who were not injured but were nevertheless traumatized from witnessing the incident.
- Commercial property insurance, which may cover damage done to the business’s building and personal property. For example, gunshots may damage walls, windows and equipment.
In addition, relatively new types of insurance such as workplace violence and active-assailant policies may cover expenses that traditional policies do not. These might include employee counseling, changes to undamaged parts of the building to make it more secure, and public relations efforts to repair a damaged reputation.
Prevention steps
While workplace violence that results in deaths often makes the news, the majority of incidents are smaller, such as an isolated attack by someone who has been fired. A business cannot absolutely prevent a workplace violence incident, but you can take steps to make it less likely. These include:
- Establishing and enforcing a “zero tolerance” policy for bullying, harassment of any kind, discrimination or intimidation.
- Modifying employer policies about sexual harassment to encompass all kinds of workplace violence.
- Making violence prevention a regular agenda item at employee meetings.
- Having procedures in place for reacting to any incidents that do occur, including assignment of responsibility for executing the procedures to specific individuals.
- Setting up a mechanism for employees to report any threats of violence towards them or co-workers.
There have always been violent incidents in workplaces, but they are becoming more common. Preventing them helps workplace morale and employee retention, protects your reputation —
and helps keep the workplace a pleasant and productive place for everyone.