Cal/OSHA’s workplace violence. regulations currently apply only to the Health Care Industry. Now, Cal/OSHA plans to promulgate an All-Industry Workplace Violence Prevention Standard.
Presently, for non-healthcare industries, Cal/OSHA regulates workplace violence as an employer obligation to identify and evaluate workplace hazards under California’s version of the general duty clause of an employer under Labor Code section 3203.
Cal/OSHA has now issued a revised draft regulation for workplace violence prevention to apply to general industry, not just health care.
Under the draft regulations, employers must establish, implement, and maintain an effective Workplace Violence Prevention Program (WVPP), similar to the requirements for an Injury Illness Prevention Program (IPP) or COVID-19 Prevention Program. A WVPP will also include procedures for responding to a workplace violence emergency and require employee training on handling workplace violence.
Employers will be required to record incidents of violence in a Violent Incident Log, although, under the current draft regulations, employers who have not had an incident in the past five years would be exempt from keeping a log.
Interested parties may submit written comments on the draft regulations to Cal/OSHA by July 18, 2022. Pending issuance of a new regulation, Cal/OSHA recommends that workplaces that identify factors for potential workplace violence include the following in their IIPP:
- A system for ensuring that employees comply with safe and healthy work practices, including ensuring that all employees, including supervisors and managers, comply with work practices designed to make the workplace more secure and do not
engage in threats or physical actions which create a security hazard to other employees, supervisors, or managers in the workplace. - A system for communicating with employees about workplace security hazards, including a means that employees can use to inform the employer of security hazards at the worksite without fear of reprisal.
- Procedures for identifying workplace security hazards including scheduled periodic inspections to identify unsafe conditions and work practices whenever the employer is made aware of a new or a previously unrecognized hazard.
- Procedures for investigating occupational injury or illness arising from a workplace assault or threat of assault.
- Procedures for correcting unsafe conditions, work practices, and work procedures, including workplace security hazards, with attention to procedures for protecting employees from physical retaliation for reporting threats.
- Training and instruction about how to recognize workplace security hazards, measures to prevent workplace assaults, and what to do when an assault occurs, including emergency action and postemergency procedures.
It is recommended that these policies and procedures also be included in employee policies to the extent necessary to ensure they are communicated to employees.
If you have questions about including workplace violence prevention information in your IIPP or employee handbook, contact your employment law or business attorney to assure you are in compliance.
The information presented is not intended to be, and does not constitute, “legal advice.” Because each situation varies, and only brief summary information is provided here, you should not use this information as a basis for action unless you have independently verified with your own counsel that it applies to your particular situation.
