Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. If your company or organization has ten (10) or more individuals who qualify as employees within the State of California, you are required to comply with SB553 Workplace Violence Prevention. 

ALERT: As of 2020, most workers performing tasks central to an employer’s business are now classified as employees, according to California's Assembly Bill 5. 

A worker is an employee (not a 1099 independent contractor) if the employer cannot prove all of the following:

1. Control: The worker is free from the employer’s control in how they perform their work.
2. Business Purpose: The work is outside the employer’s usual business operations.
3. Independent Trade: The worker operates an independent business (e.g., has other clients, tools, licenses, etc)

July 1, 2024. 

The deadline has already passed, meaning every company and organization operating in California with 10 or more employees must currently be in full compliance.

ALERT: As of 2020, most workers performing tasks central to an employer’s business are now classified as employees, according to California's Assembly Bill 5. 

A worker is an employee (not a 1099 independent contractor) if the employer cannot prove all of the following:

1. Control: The worker is free from the employer’s control in how they perform their work.
2. Business Purpose: The work is outside the employer’s usual business operations.
3. Independent Trade: The worker operates an independent business (e.g., has other clients, tools, licenses, etc.)

You are at risk of paying significant compliance, legal, and punitive financial penalties.

Companies that do not comply may be liable for Cal/OSHA citations, legal responsibilities, and both compliance and punitive financial penalties. 

More importantly, an ineffective plan fails to protect employees, potentially resulting in preventable incidents, injuries, fatalities, decreased morale, increased turnover, and significant legal and financial liability.

NO. 

Workplace violence risks are highly specific to each employer's unique combination of industry, physical location, facility layout, work processes, public interaction, and workforce demographics. 

A generic template cannot adequately address your specific vulnerabilities or prescribe relevant, effective control measures, rendering it potentially ineffective and non-compliant in practice.

The goal of the law is simple: to protect employees.  It is a workplace safety law designed to reduce violence in the workplace by requiring employers to implement preventive measures.

⚠️ Risk: Companies and their owners are now liable, regardless of their involvement in a workplace violence incident, if they do not have a program or fail to comply with their designated measures and procedures.

✅ Benefits Provided: By requiring hazard controls, employee training, and the logging of violent incidents, the law reduces injuries and psychological harm, thereby fostering safer work environments for employees.

1. 🚨  Workplace Violence Prevention Plan (WVPP): Employers must develop a written, site-specific WVPP integrated into their Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP). This plan must include procedures for hazard identification, employee involvement, coordination with other employers, law enforcement assistance, incident reporting, and compliance enforcement.
2. ⚠️ Hazard Identification & Evaluation: Regular assessments of environmental risks (e.g., poor lighting, isolated areas) and industry or site-specific factors (e.g., high value merchandise, history of violence) are required. Inspections must occur upon plan implementation, after incidents, and when new hazards emerge.
3. ✅ Employee Training: Initial and annual training must cover recognizing violence risks, de-escalation strategies, emergency procedures, and the WVPP. Training must involve employees in curriculum design and be tailored to literacy and language needs.
4. 📋 Violent Incident Log: Employers must maintain a detailed log of all workplace violence incidents, including the date, description, type of perpetrator (e.g., customer, patient, visitor), and outcome. Personal identifiers must be excluded, and logs kept for 5 years.
5. 🛡️ Reporting to OSHA: Organizations must report serious incidents (e.g., physical force causing injury or psychological trauma) to OSHA within 24 hours.
6. 💡 Post-Incident Response & Plan Review: Procedures for debriefing affected employees, providing medical care, and investigating incidents are mandated. The WVPP must be reviewed annually, after incidents, or when deficiencies are identified.
7. 🔐 Engineering/Work Practice Controls: Implementation of physical safeguards (e.g., alarm systems, secure workstations) and administrative measures (e.g., staffing adjustments, "buddy systems") to mitigate risks.

We provide hospital executives with confidence and peace of mind, enabling them to focus on their primary priority and mission: Growing their business!

Our team of industry experts is comprised of Police Officers, Court Expert Witnesses, Military Police, Regulatory Compliance Auditors, and Board Advisors. Priding ourselves on delivering the highest quality reports that meet, if not exceed, your regulatory standards, by objectively identifying, evaluating, and ranking the risks and specific workplace violence hazards unique to your organization. 

We provide: 

• An Unbiased Perspective: Identifying risks without internal assumptions or biases.

• Regulatory Understanding: Deep industry knowledge and understanding of the regulatory agency's expectations and interpretation of SB553's requirements.

• Proven Methodologies: Structured approaches to hazard identification, assessment, and control prioritization honed through experience.

• Cross-Industry Insights: Applying effective prevention strategies learned from various sectors to your unique situation.

• Speed & Efficiency: Conducting the assessment systematically and often more quickly than an untrained internal team.

While an initial risk assessment is not explicitly required, your program must be tailored to the specific hazards of each workplace and integrated into existing safety programs. Our professionals are trained to recognize subtle environmental, operational, and behavioral indicators of potential violence across diverse industries, ensuring a comprehensive assessment that fully complies with your regulatory requirements for thoroughness and goes beyond obvious threats.