Why Generic Workplace Violence Prevention Plans Don't Work

There are a lot of times when organizations can go ahead and just do a boilerplate policy.

For example, sexual harassment.

You can do what I like to call a thou shalt not generic policy that just lists all of the things that you're not permitted to do.

But workplace violence prevention plans required to comply with California's workplace violence prevention law aren't so simple.

Yes, there's specific requirements laid out within the law itself, as well as revisions that are undergoing review, but there's a lot more required in order to comply with California law, then simple, thou shalt not policies.

So in this piece, we're going to look at why creating a workplace violence prevention plan is very different from other types of workplace plans, and why your organization should not use a boilerplate approach to develop and implement.

I spent 30 years investigating violence both in the workplace as well as for litigation purposes. I've seen how violence occurs, and most importantly, how it can be prevented.

If you'd like to set up a free strategy call to discuss your workplace violence prevention program, And to make sure that you are complying with California law. Click here.

We'll set up a call and go through your program. And if it looks like your program is solid, I'll tell you. If it looks like there's some things that you could do differently. I'll let you know that too.

The 1st reason why workplace violence prevention is very different under California's workplace violence prevention law is the assessment process.

Within that process, you have to examine where are the safety hazards for your employees?

You might think to yourself, well, there's 4 source types of workplace violence.

It doesn't really work that way because your employees need to look at what they're doing day in and day out and where safety hazards come from each of those 4 different source types of workplace violence.

For example, The most common source type for violence is what I like to call "invitee" violence, which are the people that come to your business or work with your employees as part of your course and scope of business.

If you're a law firm, you may have clients that come to the office or your staff goes out and meets with clients or with witnesses in another location, that would fall under type 2 or invitee violence.

So you'd have to do an assessment of how that source type of violence can affect your team.

Such as when meeting with a client at your law firm. Let's say you're doing the meeting in the conference room.

First, you look at where the safety risks can come from that client.

Could the client be angry and feels like you're not doing enough? Maybe the client your working with is under stress or has some mental health issues that can lead to an outburst.

So if you invite clients or that witnesses into your office and you meet in the conference room, you really need to assess how this person might be a safety risk.

And the very best way to do that type of assessment actually is interviewing your staff, and looking at your visitor practices.

One of the easiest ways for someone to be injured in workplace violence when dealing with an invitee is to be trapped in an inside space by that invitee so you can't exit.

When someone else controls your ability to leave you're at risk for serious harm.

Once you've identified a safety hazard, California requires to you to develop corrections for those safety hazards that minimize or eliminate the risk of physical harm.

And develop ways to implement those changes.

So it's really a 3 part process.

The next reason that creating a workplace violence prevention program is so much more difficult than a sex harassment or other type of employment program and why a boilerplate, check the boxes approach doesn't work is because of the nature of violence.

Violence is not linear. It doesn't start at point A and work its way step-by-step to point Z. Violence can occur at any point within that continuum.

Sometimes with warning where you might have a chance to de-escalate, but often violence happens without warning.

A sneak attack makes you more vulnerable. For your workplace violence prevention plan to comply with California's requirements you have to look at the way violence occurs and identify approaches for the different ways and attack can occur and then implement those approaches in ways that your staff can keep safe either way. 

Unless the person creating a check the boxes prevention plan is experienced with violence, they're not going to be able to tell you how to address those different scenarios.

One of the things that California requires and this goes directly to that last point, is what are called strategies to avoid physical harm.

Because they're unfamiliar with violence most people who put out generic prevention plans are unfamiliar with the different strategies that actually work, so they pitch de-escalation as the strategy to avoid physical harm.

Some folks call it verbal judo. 

But that won't keep your staff safer because ost attacks occur without warning. So there's no chance to de-escalate.

California doesn't want a one-size fits all strategy.

Identifying and then implementing through training, the appropriate strategies to avoid physical harm, requires understanding which strategies work best for given situations. And making sure your employees can quickly assess the situation and apply those strategies

Giving them the full set of tools to address the majority of safety hazards quickly and efficiently is how you comply with the law. 

Under California law, your employees can engage in self-defense or in defense of others, as long as there actions are proportional. As an employer you may be concerned that should your employees engage in defensive action that it could lead to a lawsuit, or to an insurance premium increase.

But unlike some other states, the right to self-defense in California is written into state law. So you may not prohibit your employees from acting in self-defense or in defense of others. You also can't punish an employee who takes defensive action. Cal/OSHA views doing so as a form of retaliation.

So from a workplace violence prevention perspective, it makes sense to make sure that your employees understand when and how to do so safely.

One of the requirements under California law that doesn't jibe with a generic check-the-boxes plan is the requirement to assess your physical environment for its role in creating safety hazards.

Both the exterior and the interior of your workplace need to be assessed for safety. You need to look at lighting, ingress and egress, for obstructions, and to assess safety hazards created from your parking lot.

That also includes how your employees can get from point A to point B in case they need to for their safety.

You also need to access your front reception area and how safe your employees that work there are.

And you should assess restroom locales in case members of the public or invitees to your business have access to those locations, and what that means for employee safety.

Workplace locations can become places for employees to hide during an incident. But, locations in your workplace can also create obstructions where an attacker can hide. And not enough lighting can make it more difficult to notice someone waiting to attack your employee.

Dumpsters and mechanical system that's located outdoors, can also be used to conceal a potential attacker. 

A person can also wait in the parking lot of your business for one of your employees. Concealing themselves behind a vehicle or behind a pillar, so that they can then launch an attack at will.

And by the way, when you talk about the 4 source types of workplace violence, people tend to forget that violence can be caused by people that are personally involved with your employees who themselves have nothing to do with your company.

But because they were personally involved with that employee, domestic violence can spill over into the workplace. As can a problem family member, in search of money, and drugs, lead to violence.

So as you put together a plan, you need to determine how that could intersect with your employees, and as you implement strategies to avoid physical harm, which of the approaches will be most effective to help your employees avoid that type of safety hazard.

An additional way in which workplace violence prevention as mandated by California law is very different from sexual harassment and other employment types of policies.

Is that you must do certain things each and every year.nIt's not just updating a policy. It's not just doing simple trainings. You have to perform assessments yet again.

You have to determine what works, and what isn't working from your prevention plan.And what procedures you can change or alter in order to eliminate an identified safety hazard.

And then you need to train your employees in those new procedures.

This can be a real challenge. If you haven't had a violent incident to use as data.But you still need to do that assessment, look at the policies, discuss them with your employees, and make sure that you are keeping them safe the best way possible.

California requires you to do this each and every year, to update your your approach, to implement that new strategy and to train your employees in that new strategy.

One more area where workplace violence prevention under California law is very different from, let's say, for example, a sexual harassment policy, is that by California law, your employees must really drive the purpose.

Now, California says that you have to have effective ways where your employees can be engaged in the process.

From everything, from identifying safety hazards, to remedying safety hazards, to the types of training, that they feel will help them keep safer.

In sexual harassment, you say, thou shalt not from the top, HR enforces it, and you're done.

Does not work that way with workplace violence.

So you need to come up with an approach to actively engage with your employees, and that again starts with the assessment, but it works at each different step, because it's not enough to identify a risk.

You have to figure out approaches, to remedy that risk, and then you have to implement those approaches, And that involves training.

It involves working on different procedures.

And all of those under California law require your employees to be actively involved in that.

Now, these are just a few of the simple ways that A generic workplace violence prevention program is not going to work for you.

If you'd like to know if you're on track with your current approach to workplace violence, particularly because by the end of 2026, Cal OSHA will be enforcing this law, schedule a free strategy call with me and we'll look over your plan, and if it's good to go.

I'll let you know If it can use some help, I'll point out the areas where you can work on improving them.

Just click here to schedule your free strategy call.