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California Senate Bill 553 (SB 553)[1], Occupational Safety: Workplace Violence: Restraining Orders and Workplace Violence Prevention Plan, was enacted on 30 September 2023 in response to the rising number of mass shootings and instances of workplace violence in the state and the United States (US) more broadly. SB 553 requires employers to maintain an effective plan to mitigate workplace violence and provide requisite training to all their employees. The legislation is similar to workplace violence prevention standards implemented on the healthcare industry in April 2017 by the California Division of Occupational Health and Safety (Cal/OSHA). However, the current bill applies to all employers/industries in general, with a small number of exemptions[2]. Although the law is limited to employers located in California, there is some speculation as to whether similar legislation may be considered in other states in coming years.
All employers in California are required to enact workplace violence prevention plans by 1 July 2024 in accordance with SB 553. While the legislation outlines some general provisions and specific requirements, Cal/OSHA is mandated to devise new standards and regulations complying with SB 553 by 1 December 2025, with final approval to be granted no later than 31 December 2026. This means that the required provisions and measures could change between the initial 1 July compliance deadline and when Cal/OSHA formulates the new standards.
Qualifying organizations can expect wide ranging implications and requisite changes to their associated Risk Management programs. This may require enhancements to existing protocols and/or the development of appropriate risk management plans and training to address the impending requirements.
We are already seeing from clients enquiring about support with the legislation that many have well considered workplace violence programs in place already, but such is the rigour of the legislation that numerous aspects are not fully met still. Consequently, regardless of risk management maturity, we highly recommend affected organizations to conduct a gap analysis of their existing programs against the legislation.
“We are already seeing from clients enquiring about support with the legislation that many have well considered workplace violence programs in place already, but such is the rigour of the legislation that numerous aspects are not fully met still. Consequently, regardless of risk management maturity, we highly recommend affected organizations to conduct a gap analysis of their existing programs against the legislation.”
Kate Colberg | Alert:24 Risk Advisory, Lead for North America
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In Section 6401.9, the legislation outlines a comprehensive list of provisions that must be included in a compliant Workplace Violence program. For ease, we summarised the core requirements into three core areas: planning, training, and governance.
A Workplace Violence prevention plan is required. This may be incorporated as a standalone section in a written injury and illness prevention program required by Section 3203 of Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations or maintained as a separate document.
In Summary, the plan must include the following:
A supporting training program is also required. This is applicable from when the plan is first established, and annually thereafter, and when new, or previously unrecognized workplace violence hazards, are identified.
The training must cover the following:
Finally, a number of broader Governance & Compliance provisions are interweaved within the provisions, predominantly centered around accessibility of the content, record keeping and incident logs.
The information listed above should not be considered exhaustive, with more specific detail located within the legislation, and reporting requirements may change when Cal/OSHA releases its own standards for complying with SB 553.
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If an employer fails to adhere to and/or properly implement any SB 553 requirements, they may face a range of fines per violation. Additionally, companies can incur multiple fines per incident, depending on the range of violations noted. For example, an employer can be fined for failing to assess workplace violence hazards; they may then face an additional citation for failing to address those unidentified hazards, and/or ineffectively training employees regarding the issues it failed to identify. To avoid potential punitive actions, as well as associated reputational and Duty of Care risks, companies should take all appropriate steps to ensure compliance in this interim time period ahead of the 1 July 2024 deadline.
These actions may include:
Should you have any enquiries regarding how we can support you this area, please contact WTW’s in-house security consulting practice, Alert:24, via the below contact details.
This article was originally written by our North American colleagues for a U.S. audience. We have shared this article for informational purposes only as it may be of interest to our global clients. Please speak to your local office contact to further discuss any of the points raised in this article.