What can employers do to prepare?

While California continues to wait for the finalization of the general industry standard, all employers can take the following steps to prepare a written workplace violence prevention plan and program or improve the one already in place:

Assemble a development team consisting of management representatives from a variety of implicated departments such as Human Resources, Safety and Health, Security, Loss Prevention, and/or Risk Management. It is important that this be a multi-disciplinary effort that also promotes and encourages participation by employees to report suspicious or concerning behavior.

Have legal counsel (either internal, external, or both) assigned to the development team.

Train that development team and managers on risk factors for workplace violence and ways to prevent such incidents.

Create open and confidential communication lines of reporting suspicious or threatening behavior, and provide access to those reporting methods, not just to your managers and employees but also to third-party contractors and the general public that may visit the worksite.

Review and evaluate current policies. Many employers already have policies against the possession of weapons at worksites, harassment, and workplace violence, but they nonetheless should conduct a careful review of these policies and determine what, if any, additional policies and procedures are required by the new regulations.

Collect and review reports of any prior workplace violence events, threats of violence, and employee reports of workplace violence or threat concerns at the company in the last five years. This review can help determine the nature and frequency of the threats facing employers.

Following this review, the development team should put together a list of where the team believes the company faces: (i) the most serious risks of workplace violence, and (ii) the largest number of potential workplace violence events.

As California waits to see when (not if) these workplace regulations will become effective and in what specific form, California employers should take steps now to prepare for them. They also should consider whether and how they can implement such programs nationwide given the trend across the country. This is a complicated problem with no quick-fix, boilerplate solution, and employers should not procrastinate in taking steps to protect their workplaces.

Instant Insights /

California preparing sweeping workplace violence prevention regulations

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