California drafting a workplace violence regulation

Three members of the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (Board) have requested a workplace violence prevention standard for general industry for the state of California. The first draft was very detailed; The Phylmar Regulatory Roundtable (PRR) https://www.phylmar.com/regulatory-roundtable submitted recommended regulation following the state’s Injury and Illness Prevention Program approach.

The latest draft, although an improvement in some ways, according to PRR, was of significant concern because it include two new elements: a Workplace Violence Incident Log requiring specific details of every incident and post-incident response, with the name of the employee.

The previous draft required the employer to only provide access to investigative documents if there was a Workplace Violence incident that was reportable.

The latest draft requires significant expansion of access and is a great concern for employers.  PRR understands another draft has been developed and is working its way through approvals and will be issued for consideration by an Advisory Committee.