As previously reported, effective July 1, 2024, California employers of any size must develop an effective workplace violence prevention plan (the Plan) for each work area and operation; provide violence prevention training; maintain violence incident logs; and keep records of incident investigations and hazard identification, evaluation and correction.

The law does not apply to:

● employees teleworking from a location of their choosing and not under the employer’s control;
● health care facilities covered under Cal/OSHA’s Violence Prevention in Health Care regulation;
● law enforcement agencies or correctional facilities; and
● locations not accessible to the public where less than 10 employees work at any given time so long as the employer satisfies the Cal/OSHA Injury and Illness Prevention Program standard.

To assist covered employers, the California Chamber of Commerce has authored a free white paper.

California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) has issued an employer fact sheet and released a model workplace violence prevention plan.

That model plan addresses:

• Emergency response procedures;
• Violence prevention, detection, evaluation and correction;
• Incident reporting procedures and post-incident response and investigation;
• Training and instruction; and
• Recordkeeping and violence incident log.

That agency has also published frequently asked questions, which define workplace violence, explain how to make the Plan accessible to employees, and confirm the July 1, 2024 training deadline.

Take-Aways:

Covered employers must hasten to adopt a legally complaint, comprehensive workplace violence prevention plan and implement the required training by the July 1 deadline.

For further information, please contact Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin.

See also:

• Workplace Violence Prevention Plans July 1, 2024- Implementation Deadline, Resources Available (March 22, 2024)

• Workplace Violence Prevention Plan – California Employers Must Implement Comprehensive Violence Prevention Plans and Training by July1, 2024 (November 17, 2023)

• Cautionary Tale Episode 70 – Keep Employees Safe (June 30, 2023)

Cindy Bamforth
June 20, 2024