California's new workplace violence prevention law requires that since July 1, 2024, employers must establish, implement, and maintain an effective workplace violence prevention program. The law only exempts employees who telework full-time from a location not under an employers control. It also only exempts places of employment where employees are not accessible to the public, and that have fewer than 10 employees. So if your employees interact with the public regardless of the number of employees you have you must implement a workplace violence prevention program.

No. California requires that employers assess the specific workplace violence safety hazards that your employees face from the 4 source types of workplace violence. And to develop approaches to remediate those specific safety hazards. In addition, every employer must seek the active participation of your employees in creating a workplace violence prevention program, and in determining the types of training to provide them. This requires a level of specificity that cut and paste plans don't accomplish.

California requires that you obtain the active involvement of your employees to assess the specific workplace violence safety hazards they face, to identify approaches to keep them safe from those safety hazards, and to identify the types of training they'll need to keep safe. You do that by conducting interviews of employees, or at a minimum, written surveys. Make sure to do so from a representative sample of the different types of work they perform.

California requires employers to train employees annually in strategies to avoid physical harm from workplace violence. This is the most important, but least understood requirements, in California's new workplace violence prevention law. The type of strategies you train employees in should be relevant to the types of safety hazards they face from the 4 different source types of workplace violence. These should be tailored to the specifics of your employees' interactions with the public, invitees, co-workers, and their connections outside of work.