With Release of New Guidance, California Employers Now Have What They Need To Comply with July 1st Deadline To Implement a Workplace Violence Prevention Plan
Earlier this month, Cal-OSHA released a model workplace violence prevention plan for employers (in non-health care settings) to use as a customizable template when preparing their own workplace-specific plans. That same day, the state agency also released a “fact sheet” providing California employers (also in non-health care settings) with an overview of how to create a compliant workplace violence prevention plan and a summary of key plan requirements, addressing requirements concerning the maintenance of incident logs, employee training and necessary recordkeeping.
As many California employers may already be aware, California SB 553 was signed into law late last year, and requires the vast majority of in-state employers to develop and implement workplace violence prevention plans containing specified information, and provide effective employee training on the subject. Employers got a slight reprieve when the law was amended to go into effect on July 1, 2024.
Given this delayed effective date, employers were hopeful that Cal-OSHA (as the agency responsible for enforcement of this new law) would release a template model plan and/or guidance document to assist with developing an effective and compliant plan. As a reminder, Cal-OSHA has an online library of model programs it has developed for employers to download and customize, such as a model injury illness and prevention plan (IIPP) program. It was not known, though, whether Cal-OSHA intended to add a model workplace violence prevention plan to its library of programs, and especially whether it would ahead of July 1st compliance deadline.
Fortunately, Cal-OSHA delivered, and a model workplace violence prevention plan model (which employers may, but are not required to, use) is available here, and the accompanying fact sheet is available here.
California employers should feel free to reach out to an attorney in MSK’s Labor & Employment department with any questions regarding Cal-OSHA’s model workplace violence prevention plan and/or fact sheet, including how to customize the model plan for their particular business.
MSK will also be providing a 30 minute webinar to discuss best practices for implementing the new workplace violence prevention plan, as well as developing a model employee training to comply with the new law, to be made available to its clients. Stay tuned for more information!