Managing California’s New Workplace Violence Requirements

Starting July 1, 2024 nearly every workplace in the state of California will have to be in compliance with several new laws pertaining to the prevention of workplace violence.

If you’ve been looking for a summary of what’s required and some help to get started down the path towards compliance with these new regulations, we’re here to help. In the next few pages we’ll discuss the new regulations, what’s needed to be in compliance and a few ideas for how to do that.

Aren’t There Already Workplace Violence Laws in California?

In short, yes, the state of California already has workplace prevention laws in their code of state regulations, but the requirements of Title 8: Section 3342 only apply to most employers within the health care industry. However in 2023 the state of California passed Senate Bill 553 which amended Section 6401.7 of California’s Labor Code to require nearly every employer in the state to implement an effective Workplace Violence Prevention Plan, based on the requirements found in newly created Section 6401.9.

When is Compliance Required?

Employers must have a compliant written Workplace Violence Prevention Plan (WVPP) and the corresponding required training completed by July 1, 2024. For those companies who are ahead of the game on this, please remember that the state has until the end of 2026 to create a new Title 8 section for these laws and in doing so, the current requirements may change significantly.

What Do The New Regulations Require?

The easiest and most efficient way to break this down is to compartmentalize things by activity and cover each one separately. Within these new regulations are three separate activities:

1. Creating & implementing a Workplace Violence Prevention Plan
2. Providing employee training
3. Recordkeeping requirements

Workplace Violence Prevention Plan (WVPP)

Rather than creating vague legislation that provides employers with a great deal of wiggle room, the state of California was specific about not only the plan’s design but also its contents. Employers will essentially be creating a written plan made up of a series of procedures, each of which is designed to tackle different aspects of both preventing and handling workplace violence incidents.

While we’re not going to cover every procedure that must be included and instead will refer readers back to the state’s FACT Sheet and their suggested template to build a compliant plan, we did want to mention a few of the more detailed procedures and how they can be managed using a solution from EHS Insight.

Inspection & Hazard Identification

Inspections and hazard identification take center stage in California’s new workplace violence legislation because it’s through these two processes that employers will identify situations within their workplaces that could contribute to workplace violence, evaluate the risks and as needed and then track any control measures implemented. One of the big things about this requirement is that employers can’t just create a procedure and say they’re going to do it, they actually have to do it and keep records of the activity for five years. For anyone looking for a great way of managing this part of the regulation, look no further than at the Audit & Inspection and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment modules from EHS Insight. With our Audit & Inspection module, users can create customized inspections that can include pictures, links, scoring and notifications to alert others when inspections are complete or overdue. Combining this with our Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment module, users can identify and manage all of their hazards, regardless of what programs they’re related to, perform risk assessments and automate the important processes related to each. Additionally, both solutions provide robust reporting options that can help users document and track implemented control measures and if a more customized option is needed, our Customer Success team is always happy to help.

Compliance Management

As we mentioned earlier, the Workplace Violence Prevention Plan is really just a series of procedures, each one having its own requirements to keep up with. Trying to remember when things need to be done and making sure they’re being accomplished on time can quickly become overwhelming, especially with so many new procedures being established at the same time. To help corral some of this and to keep employers on top of requirements, due dates and specific activities, our Compliance Management module would be an ideal fit. Activities associated with workplace violence regulations or really any regulations, internal and external can be scheduled and tracked using our module.

Managing Procedures

Trying to keep up with all of the new procedures being created for the Workplace Violence Prevention Plan, making sure they’re available to the workforce while ensuring they’re protected is nearly impossible to do on paper. This is why having a solution like our Document Library (which comes standard with our other solutions) is just a better option. Our Document Library provides users a way of creating libraries for any electronic documents a user creates, tracking revisions and sharing documents so that workers have access to the pertinent policies and procedures needed, without worrying that documents will be altered or deleted.

Incident Management

Another main part of California’s new workplace violence legislation centers around incidents and how they’re investigated and managed. When companies are alerted about potential or actual workplace violence situations, they’re required to document these incidents, investigate them and communicate the results of that investigation to those making the report. They’re also required to keep track of them on a Workplace Violence Log. For companies still using paper processes to manage incidents, the prospect of adding an entirely new data set to the paper forms and updating any databases being used to collect incident data is daunting to say the least. A better way to manage incidents is by using a solution like our Incident Management module which can be used universally to manage all incidents, including those involving workplace violence.

Workplace Violence Training

The next activity we want to discuss are the training requirements the state of California included in these new regulations. The training requirements found in section (e) (1) aren’t much different than what you’d find in most other workplace regulations and include requirements for content and training intervals. However, before an employer goes out and spends money on training content or develops their own content, there are a few things to know.

For starters, the regulation makes an association that to be effective, it must be specific to the needs of the participants and not “one size fits all”. This means employers will have to evaluate their workforces to establish what the learning needs are and then provide appropriate training content with “vocabulary that matches the educational levels, literacy and language” of the workers participating in it. Among other things, this might mean having several different versions in multiple languages and tools to evaluate the effectiveness of the training in more than one format. Additionally, the topics required to be covered in the training don’t really allow for employers to simply purchase training videos and call it a day. Employers can certainly do that, but it won’t be considered compliant training unless the employer adds all the company specific requirements stated in the regulations—and that’s mainly what the training requirements consist of.

More specifically, employers have to provide training on the following:

• The employer’s Workplace Violence Prevention Plan, how workers can get a copy of it and the avenues available for how they can participate in its development & implementation
• The definitions and other requirements of section 6401.9
• How workers can report both concerns about or instances of workplace violence not only to the employer but also to law enforcement, and do so without fear of negative repercussions
• Specific, job related workplace violence hazards that have been identified by the employer and what’s being done to control them
• How employees can seek assistance in the prevention of and/or response to violence and what they can do to avoid these situations
• How the company will be logging incidents of workplace violence, where workers can get a copy of these records

Employers thinking about simply handing out the written policy to the workforce and having them read and acknowledge their understanding of said policy, there’s one last training content requirement to be aware of. Per the regulations, compliant training must also include an interactive question and answer period where employees can ask whatever questions they have in real time and have someone knowledgeable about the plan answer them.

When and how often training is required is another variable that must be considered when putting together training for the workforce. In this instance, the regulations require employers to provide training at four main intervals:

• Initially after the Workplace Violence Prevention Plan is implemented
• Annually
• After a new workplace violence hazard has been identified
• When any changes are made to the Workplace Violence Prevention Plan

Recordkeeping Requirements

The final activity we promised to discuss deals with a new set of recordkeeping requirements which includes more than just creating & keeping a Workplace Violence Log. Before we cover what must be included in the Workplace Violence Log, let’s go over all the items employers are supposed to keep records of as part of this new regulation.

Employers must keep the following records:

• Five years of records showing they went out and performed assessments of the workplace looking for workplace violence hazards as well as records showing they evaluated any identified hazards and what they did about them
• One year of training records which include training dates, training content (or a summary), names and qualifications of those providing the training & names and job titles of those attending the training
• Five years of Workplace Violence logs
• Five years of investigations of workplace violence incidents

Workplace Violence Logs

To be in compliance with this part of the regulation, every incident involving workplace violence whether it’s a threat or an actual act of violence, must be logged to collect the following information:

• Incident date, time and location
• Type(s) of violence (Type 1, Type 2, Type 3 or Type 4)
• Description of the incident
• Who perpetrated the incident (coworker, manager, customer, etc.)
• What the employee was doing at the time of the incident
• Where the incident took place
• Characteristics of the violence (weapon used & what type, physical violence & what type, threats, animal attack, etc.)
• Incident consequences such as law enforcement or security involvement
• What actions were taken to protect workers from further harm
• Name and job title of the person completing the log and the date

For employers with a more detailed incident reporting process, much of this information will already be collected as part of the regular information collection process and only a few things will have to be added.

Final Thoughts

Complying with this new set of regulations is going to take some effort and time but with the right tools, it doesn’t have to be too taxing. If you’re ready to get some help with the management process, give us a call anytime and we’ll be happy to help!