“We Don’t Have That Kind Of Violence Here” – The Risk Small Employers Miss

“We Don’t Have That Kind Of Violence Here” – The Risk Small Employers Miss

When most people hear “workplace violence,” they picture employee‑on‑employee incidents:

• An angry worker “snapping”
• A disgruntled ex‑employee coming back with a weapon
• HR and security escorting someone out of the building

Small business owners look at their staff and think:

“We don’t have people like that here. We’re a good group. We’re fine.”

So they decide they don’t really need a workplace violence prevention plan.

That belief is one of the biggest reasons I’ve seen small employers end up in six‑ or seven‑figure lawsuits.

Because in the real world:

• Active shooters are a tiny fraction of workplace violence incidents.
• A huge share of violence in and around small businesses involves third parties:
• Customers and clients
• Patients and family members
• Vendors and delivery drivers
• People personally connected to your employees outside of work

And when those people are harmed on your property, during the course of your business, you’re not looking at workers’ comp.

You’re looking at civil court, with all the financial and reputational risk that comes with it.

Your Duty Doesn’t Stop With Employees

Under California law, if you invite people onto your premises to receive or provide services, you owe them a duty of care.

That includes:

• Customers in your store or office
• Patients in your waiting room or treatment rooms
• Clients in your conference room
• Vendors making deliveries
• Family or support people who accompany your clients or patients

Over 30 years as an investigator, I worked on many cases where those “invitees” were attacked or seriously harmed on small business premises. My role was often to:

• Build cases against employers on behalf of those injured invitees, or
• Review internal investigations to see what the employer knew and what they did (or didn’t do)

I saw the same pattern over and over:

1. Early warning signs were ignored or minimized.
2. Staff didn’t know what they were allowed to do about problematic third parties.
3. There was no clear plan for protecting invitees in reception areas, exam rooms, parking lots, or common areas.
4. When violence occurred, the employer’s documentation and response made them look careless, not reasonable.

From a legal perspective, that’s a recipe for a bad outcome.

Real sources of violence in small businesses

In my cases, the threat rarely came from a cartoon version of a “dangerous employee.”

It came from:

• A customer with a history of aggressive behavior toward staff and other customers
• A patient’s family member who escalated from verbal abuse to physical assault
• An ex‑partner who showed up repeatedly, making staff and invitees uncomfortable before finally attacking someone
• A vendor or casual acquaintance who was allowed to hang around despite clear red flags

In many of those situations, staff had:

• Noticed the behavior
• Mentioned it to someone
• Sometimes even written a quick note or email

But there was no consistent system to:

• Take it seriously
• Assess the risk
• Act before it turned into a serious incident

And when the injured party was a customer, client, or patient, the employer found themselves defending:

• Why the person was still allowed on the property
• Why no additional safety measures were taken
• Why nobody connected the dots between earlier complaints and the final incident

How California law raises the stakes for small employers

California’s new workplace violence prevention requirements don’t carve out a “too small to matter” category.

If you:

• Have employees, and
• Have public or client access to your business

then the expectation is that you have:

• A workplace violence prevention plan that reflects your real risks, including third‑party invitees
• Training for staff on threats, aggression, and violent behavior (from the public as well as co‑workers)
• A way to report, document, and follow up on threats, near misses, and incidents
• Internal investigations that are more than just checking a box

That’s true whether you have 5 employees or 500.

And remember: when a customer, client, patient, or vendor is harmed, you’re likely headed to civil court, where:

• Jury awards and settlements can easily reach six or seven figures
• Some insurers may not cover intentional torts like battery
• Your documentation (or lack of it) will be examined line by line

What a reasonable small‑employer plan for invitees looks like

You don’t need a huge security department. But you do need a clear, workable plan. At a minimum, that should include:

1. Front‑of‑house safety protocols
• How staff handle escalating customers/clients/patients
• When and how to ask someone to leave
• When to involve a manager, security, or law enforcement

2. Parking lot and ingress/egress safety

• Awareness around opening/closing times
• Procedures for staff walking to cars or escorting invitees
• What to do if someone is loitering or behaving in a threatening way

3. Reporting and communication

• A simple way for staff to report concerning behavior from third parties (verbal abuse, stalking, threats, near misses)
• Clear expectations for how managers respond and document those reports

4. Documentation and follow‑up

• Basic incident and near‑miss forms that capture what happened, who was involved, and what was done
• A practice of reviewing patterns and tightening controls over time

When you do those things consistently and document them well, you’re not just “doing the right thing.” You’re also giving your future self and any defense attorney something to work with if an incident occurs.

Three questions to ask yourself this week

To make this concrete, ask yourself:

1. If a client or customer was assaulted in your waiting area or parking lot tomorrow, what would your plan say you should have done?
2. Could you show, on paper, that staff were trained on handling threatening or escalating behavior from members of the public?
3. If I reviewed your incident and near‑miss records as a plaintiff‑side investigator, would your response look reasonable and consistent, or scattered and reactive?

If those questions make you uneasy, that’s not a sign you’ve failed.
It’s a sign you’re seeing your real risk more clearly.

If you want a quick, honest read on where you stand

One of the reasons I shifted from building cases against employers to working with them is simple:

I’ve seen too many situations where better planning and earlier action could have protected both people and businesses.

That’s why I offer a free:

15‑minute California Workplace Violence Compliance & Safety Snapshot

In 15 minutes, we:

• Look at how you’re handling risk to both employees and third‑party invitees
• Flag obvious gaps around early warning signs, near misses, and follow‑up
• Give you 1–2 practical steps to move toward being both compliant and defensible under California’s workplace violence requirements

If you’d like that quick, expert read on your situation:

👉 Book your free 15‑minute snapshot here:
Book your free 15‑minute snapshot

Prefer email to a call?
Email me at [email protected] with “15‑minute compliance & safety snapshot” in the subject line and 1–2 lines about your organization. I’ll send 3 quick questions to get you started.