Incidents of workplace violence are a growing concern for many employers, especially in certain industries like healthcare, where the rate of injuries increased 63% from 2011 to 2018 and further intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic. Of course, the incident figures across industries are sobering, with recent studies showing that at least 1.3 million nonfatal violent crimes are committed in the workplace annually, which excludes fatalities from active shooters and other factors like the nearly two-fold incidence of workplace violence against women versus men.
As a result of these trends, many organizations have questions about how to responsibly respond to the threat of workplace violence and how to adhere to local, state, and federal regulations regarding workplace violence training. In this article, we’ll define workplace violence and explore which types of workforce violence training are required to ensure compliance, employee safety, and violence prevention for you and your employees.
The U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) defines workplace violence as “any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening disruptive behavior that occurs at the work site.” Workplace violence includes not only a nonfatal assault, but also any malicious threat, act of sexual harassment, active shooter incident, and many other scenarios we’ll explore.
OSHA outlines four major categories of workplace violence:
Although OSHA’s categorization provides a helpful framework to understand common manifestations of workplace violence, incidents can occur in unexpected contexts, settings, and professions. As just one example, customer-client violence can unfold for members of a mobile workforce, whether it’s a utility company employee, delivery driver, police officer, or any employee who works night shifts in an area with higher criminal activity.
Currently, there are no clearly defined federal/OSHA standards for workplace violence training or prevention. However, OSHA is empowered to identify and cite an employer for any incident of workplace violence based on the “general duty” clause of Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. This clause mandates that employers provide a working environment “free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm.” The guidelines for conducting an inspection or issuing a citation to an employer for violation of this clause are outlined in OSHA’s Enforcement Procedures and Scheduling for Occupational Exposure to Workplace Violence.
More recently, as of January 1, 2022, official workplace violence prevention standards apply to some specific industries, namely to Joint Commission-accredited hospitals and critical access hospitals. The institution of these official standards is a response to the growing and disproportionate incidence of workplace violence in healthcare and social service settings. These standards help hospitals begin to develop defined policies, procedures, training, workplace violence prevention systems, and other systems that increase workplace safety.
Of course, in these and other settings, employers are generally considered responsible for developing a workplace violence prevention system and demonstrating a commitment to identifying workplace threats, harassment, intimidation early on to address existing workplace violence and prevent escalation or future threats. That’s why, in addition to establishing training for workplace violence prevention or sexual harassment, many employers also utilize active shooter training, active bystander training, adverse termination training, and more.
As part of an effort to address one dimension of workplace violence, some states like California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, and New York have laws that require sexual harassment training for most or all employees and supervisors.
Many other states encourage employers to provide workplace violence and/or sexual harassment training, but do not officially require it. However, employers should be aware that some local requirements may amplify state requirements, including in Chicago where all employees and supervisors must receive additional hours of sexual harassment and bystander intervention training.
Whether an employer is strictly required by local, state, or federal law to institute workplace violence or sexual harassment prevention training, they should be aware that employers facing federal court (including lower court) rulings have traditionally been more vulnerable to receiving punitive damages if they failed to provide harassment or workplace violence prevention training to their employees. This includes organizations that instituted harassment or workforce violence policies, but did not offer documented training.
Beyond developing organizational policies to address workplace violence, sexual harassment and other concerns, it’s essential for employers to understand their legal obligations and to offer professionally guided training that ensures employee health and safety.
Is your organization in compliance with all legal requirements for workplace violence training? Contact The Orsus Group today for expert guidance and comprehensive solutions tailored to your industry's needs. Together, we can build a safer and more respectful workplace for your employees and clients.