Workplace Violence Prevention Plan - “New” Law for California Employers

Beginning July 1, 2024, a new law requires California business owners to have a workplace violence prevention plan in place.  

What is Workplace Violence?

Per Labor Code section 6401.9, "workplace violence" is defined as any act of violence or threat of violence that occurs in a place of employment. This includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• The threat or use of physical force against an employee that results in, or has a high likelihood of resulting in, injury, psychological trauma, or stress, regardless of whether the employee sustains an injury.
• An incident involving a threat or use of a firearm or other dangerous weapon, including the use of common objects as weapons, regardless of whether the employee sustains an injury. 

Employers that fall within the scope of this law must establish, implement, and maintain an effective written Workplace Violence Prevention Plan that includes but is not limited to the following: 

• Identifying who is responsible for implementing the plan
• Involving employees and their representatives
• Accepting and responding to reports of workplace violence and prohibit employee retaliation
• Communicating with employees regarding workplace violence matters
• Responding to actual and potential emergencies
• Developing and providing effective training
• Identifying, evaluating, and correcting workplace violence hazards
• Performing post incident response and investigations 

Download the current Workplace Violence Prevention fact sheet here, access the Cal/OSHA sample program here, and keep up to date with the latest Workplace Violence Prevention news from Cal/OSHA at: https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/Workplace-Violence.html

For Preferred policyholders, we have Workplace Violence Prevention resources available to you in our customer portal. Please reach out to our Risk Advisors at [email protected] with any questions. 

SOURCES:

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB553

https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/Workplace-Violence.html

https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/dosh_publications/Model-WPV-Plan-General-Industry.docx