Workplace Violence

Workplace violence is any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation or other threatening disruptive behavior that occurs at the work site. It ranges from verbal threats and abuse to physical assaults and homicide, and it can involve customers, coworkers, strangers or people with a personal relationship to an employee.

Workplace violence can happen in any industry, but some workers face much higher risk, including healthcare and social service workers, retail employees who handle cash, delivery drivers and people who work alone or late at night. A structured prevention program helps employers identify those risks and reduce them before someone is hurt.

What Is Workplace Violence?

OSHA has defined workplace violence as "any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening disruptive behavior that occurs at the work site." NIOSH uses a similar definition, describing it as any physical assault, threatening behavior or verbal abuse occurring in the work setting.

Workplace violence can affect employees, contractors, clients and visitors. It can take place at a fixed facility, in a client's home, in a vehicle or anywhere an employee is working. Beyond physical injuries, it can cause lasting psychological harm, absenteeism and turnover.

The Four Types of Workplace Violence

Workplace violence is commonly grouped into four types based on the relationship between the perpetrator and the workplace. NIOSH describes them as follows:

1. Type 1, criminal intent: the perpetrator has no legitimate relationship to the business or its employees and is usually committing a crime such as robbery, theft or trespassing.
2. Type 2, customer or client: the perpetrator has a legitimate relationship with the business, such as a customer, patient, student or inmate, and becomes violent while being served. NIOSH notes this is the most common type of violence in healthcare settings.
3. Type 3, worker-on-worker: a current or former employee threatens or attacks coworkers or supervisors. This includes verbal and emotional abuse, sometimes called lateral or horizontal violence.
4. Type 4, personal relationship: the perpetrator has a personal relationship with an employee outside of work, such as a current or former partner, and the conflict carries into the workplace.

Understanding the type of violence most likely at your site helps you choose the right controls. A convenience store may focus on cash handling and lighting, while a hospital may focus on patient behavior assessments and staffing.

Workplace Violence Laws and Regulations

Federal OSHA and the General Duty Clause

Federal OSHA does not currently have a specific workplace violence standard for general industry. However, OSHA can cite employers under the General Duty Clause, Section 5(a)(1) of the OSH Act, which requires each employer to provide a workplace free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm. OSHA has used the General Duty Clause in workplace violence cases, particularly in healthcare and social services, where the hazard is recognized and feasible controls exist.

OSHA also publishes guidance, including its workplace violence resources and guidelines for preventing workplace violence in healthcare and social service settings. Serious injuries from violence are subject to normal OSHA recordkeeping rules, so assaults that meet the criteria for a recordable injury must be entered on the OSHA 300 Log.

California SB 553 and Labor Code Section 6401.9

California has the broadest general industry requirement in the country. Senate Bill 553, signed in September 2023, added Labor Code section 6401.9, which became enforceable on July 1, 2024. According to Cal/OSHA, covered employers must:

• Establish, implement and maintain an effective written Workplace Violence Prevention Plan (WVPP), either as a standalone document or as a separate section of their Injury and Illness Prevention Program.
• Name the people responsible for the plan and involve employees and their representatives in developing and implementing it.
• Include procedures to accept and respond to reports of workplace violence and to prohibit retaliation against employees who report.
• Train employees on the plan and on workplace violence hazards.
• Record information about every violent incident in a violent incident log.
• Conduct post-incident response and investigations, and periodically review and revise the plan.

Records of hazard identification, incident investigations and violent incident logs must be kept for at least five years, and training records for at least one year. SB 553 also directed the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board to adopt a general industry workplace violence prevention standard by December 31, 2026. California healthcare employers are covered by a separate standard, Title 8 section 3342.

Other State Laws

Several other states have workplace violence requirements for specific sectors, most often healthcare. Employers should check the laws in each state where they operate.

How to Build a Workplace Violence Prevention Program Step by Step

1. Get leadership commitment. Issue a clear policy that violence and threats will not be tolerated and that reports will be taken seriously.
2. Involve employees. Ask workers where and when they feel unsafe. Frontline staff often know the risks best.
3. Assess the hazards. Review past incidents, near misses and security reports, and evaluate factors such as cash handling, working alone, late hours, poor lighting and high-risk clients. A structured risk assessment helps prioritize.
4. Put controls in place. Use the hierarchy of controls: engineering controls such as access control, lighting, barriers and alarms, and administrative controls such as staffing levels, check-in procedures and cash limits.
5. Set up reporting and response procedures. Make it easy to report threats and incidents, and define how to get help in an emergency.
6. Train employees. Cover recognizing warning signs, de-escalation, how to report and how to respond during an incident.
7. Investigate and support. After an incident, provide medical care and support to affected employees, investigate causes and fix gaps.
8. Review and improve. Evaluate the program at least annually and after significant incidents.

Warning Signs and Risk Factors

• Working with the public, especially when exchanging money.
• Working alone, in small groups or in isolated locations.
• Working late at night or early in the morning.
• Working in high-crime areas or in community settings such as clients' homes.
• Providing care or services to people who may be distressed, intoxicated or have a history of violence.
• Worker behavior changes such as threats, intimidation, fixation on grievances or talk of weapons.

Examples

• Type 1: an armed robbery at a gas station during an overnight shift.
• Type 2: a patient in an emergency department strikes a nurse during triage.
• Type 3: a recently disciplined employee sends threatening messages to a supervisor.
• Type 4: an employee's former partner comes to the office and confronts her in the parking lot.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Treating verbal threats as "part of the job": unaddressed threats often escalate.
• No reporting system: if workers do not know how to report, incidents go unrecorded and patterns are missed.
• Generic training only: training should reflect the actual risks and layout of the workplace.
• Ignoring post-incident support: employees who experience violence may need medical care, counseling and time to recover.

How SMS360 Helps

The SMS360 Incident Management module gives employees a simple way to report threats, assaults and near misses, including from a mobile device. Safety teams can investigate each event, assign corrective actions, and use incident records to identify patterns by location, shift or type of violence. Structured records can also support recordkeeping such as the violent incident log required in California.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does OSHA have a workplace violence standard?

Federal OSHA does not currently have a specific workplace violence standard for general industry. OSHA can cite employers under the General Duty Clause, Section 5(a)(1) of the OSH Act, when workplace violence is a recognized hazard and feasible controls exist. Some states, including California, have their own requirements.

What are the four types of workplace violence?

The four types are criminal intent, where the perpetrator has no legitimate relationship to the business; customer or client violence; worker-on-worker violence; and personal relationship violence, where someone with a personal relationship to an employee brings the conflict to work.

What does California SB 553 require?

SB 553 added Labor Code section 6401.9, which since July 1, 2024 has required most California employers to have a written workplace violence prevention plan, train employees, keep a violent incident log, investigate incidents and protect employees who report from retaliation. Cal/OSHA enforces these requirements.

What should be in a workplace violence prevention program?

An effective program includes leadership commitment, employee involvement, hazard assessment, engineering and administrative controls, reporting and response procedures, training, incident investigation, support for affected workers and regular program review.