5 Common Mistakes Small CA Employers Make with Workplace Violence Plans
California’s mandatory workplace violence prevention law went into effect on July 1, 2024. With very limited exceptions, the law “applies to all employers, employees, and places of employment.”
Complying with the requirements of the law may feel burdensome to small employers who lack the compliance teams larger organizations have.
But, if you’re responsible for employee safety, getting this right matters.
A 2021 survey of small employers by Zogby Analytics found that 34% had experienced a serious incident of violence or threat of violence. And a serious incident can lead to higher employee turnover and absenteeism rates, regulatory fines, costly litigation, and decreased revenue.
In this piece we’ll look at 5 common mistakes that small CA employers make with workplace violence prevention plans.
I spent over 30 years, investigating violent incidents from multiple angles:
- Bringing cases against organizations where violence occurred
- Defending individuals in criminal cases
- Conducting internal workplace investigations after threats and assaults
I understand how violence actually develops, how it can be prevented, what plaintiff attorneys and regulators look for, and what organizations are expected to do before and after an incident.
For over a decade I’ve used that experience, to provide workplace violence prevention consulting and personal safety training helping organizations design and implement workplace violence prevention programs that align with California requirements and the safety hazards their employees face.
Free 15‑Minute Compliance & Safety Snapshot
If you’re a California employer with 5–30 employees and your team interacts with the public, you’re now required to have a workplace violence prevention plan that actually works in practice, not just on paper.
If you’d like a quick, no‑obligation snapshot of where you stand, you can book a free 15‑minute Workplace Violence Compliance & Safety Snapshot call here: [Get Your Free 15‑Minute Snapshot]
Mistake #1: Believing that as a small employer you’re exempt from the law’s requirements.
Small employers with fewer than 10 employees could understandably believe that the law doesn’t apply to their organization. And that’s due to a misinterpretation of the law, which identified an exemption for places of employment with less than 10 employees.
However, that exemption is ONLY for places of employment “that are not accessible to the public” AND who already have a general safety plan in place.
In plain language, what that means for small employers is regardless of the number of employees you have, if your employees interact in person with clients, customers, patients, or the general public your organization must comply with the law and it’s requirements.
Mistake #2: Believing that having a workplace violence prevention policy is enough.
Your organization may already have a policy prohibiting workplace violence. Policies let employees know what conduct is prohibited in the workplace. I call that a “thou shall not” document that governs employee behavior and disciplinary consequences for violating the policy .
But that doesn’t meet California’s requirements for employers regarding a prevention plan.
A violence prevention plan addresses an employer’s responsibility to prevent an incident, and what actions must be taken if an incident occurs. It’s a roadmap of the steps your organization must take to better protect your employees.
Your prevention plan must also anticipate violence committed by non-employees that targets your employees, and safety risks for non-employees including clients, patients, customers, and vendors, when they are present at your workplace.
Here are just some of the actions California requires of employers:
- Identify any workplace violence safety hazards that your employees face.
- Identify changes to make to current workplace practices that will reduce the risk to your employees from those safety hazards, and then implement them.
- Identify post incident responses to address the incident including complaint and investigation processes.
- Identify who will maintain a violence incident log to ensure that the information included adequately documents the circumstances of the incident,
- Identify who will be in charge of implementing the overall plan.
- Identify the types of training you’ll provide to your employees, and who will provide that training.
- Implement all of the required steps, provide a variety of training, and reassess annually.
Mistake #3: Failing to actively involve your employees in creating and implementing your prevention plan, including the training you provide.
Complying with California’s workplace violence prevention law is very different from complying with other types of workplace prevention issues. Most workplace issues, for example sexual harassment, are addressed in a top down management directive without employee involvement in deciding what to do, and how to implement it.
California’s workplace violence prevention law requires employers to identify “effective procedures to obtain the active involvement of employees and authorized employee representatives in developing and implementing the Plan, including but not limited to through their participation in identifying, evaluating, and correcting workplace violence hazards, in designing and implementing training, and in reporting and investigating workplace violence incidents.”
So as an employer you need to actively engage with your employees to get their input on all aspects of workplace violence, from assessment, to implementation, and training. And that makes sense because they know their work, and the ways their work can make them vulnerable to violence.
Mistake #4: Creating a document instead of a results driven system customized to the specific safety needs of your organization and employees.
California requires that employers develop and implement “effective” procedures for 11 different elements of workplace violence prevention.
Employers must put together a system that actually works to keep your employees safer in their work and not just in theory. It’s not about checking boxes and applying generic principles.
And to do so, employers need to understand the safety risks employees face, as well as how real life violence occurs, and what does and doesn’t work to prevent it.
And then before you finalize your plan, you need to assess the plan you developed for real world effectiveness before you take it live and begin training your employees.
Mistake #5: Treating your workplace violence prevention plan as set it and forget it.
Most employment policies and handbooks get created and then go into a bottom drawer somewhere. So it’s tempting to do the same with your workplace violence prevention plan.
But, you put yourself at risk of regulatory action if you do. That’s because California never intended for your workplace violence prevention plan to be a one and done, set it and forget it, document.
The law specifically requires employers to “maintain” an effective workplace violence prevention plan. And that includes requiring that employers create “effective procedures to review the effectiveness of the Plan and revise the Plan as needed, including, but not limited to, procedures to obtain the active involvement of employees, and authorized employee representatives in reviewing the Plan. The Plan shall be reviewed at least: annually, when a deficiency is observed or becomes apparent, and after a workplace incident.”
And not just the plan itself, but the law requires that “the employer shall provide employees with initial training when the Plan is first established, and annually thereafter.”
And, “additional training shall be provided when a new or previously unrecognized workplace violence hazard has been identified and when changes are made to the Plan.”
If you’re responsible for safety or compliance in a small California organization, the fastest next step is a short, free 15‑minute snapshot call. We’ll pressure‑test how you’d look if a regulator or plaintiff’s attorney asked tomorrow, and flag your top risks.
