How to Prevent Workplace Violence with Incident Management Software

California’s newly enacted SB 553 aims to protect employees by requiring organizations to create a workplace violence prevention plan, along with other workplace safety updates, by July 1, 2024. However, having this plan in place is just one way to prevent violence in your workplace.

Incident management software like Case IQ lets you receive reports, investigate incidents, and analyze historic data, all in one place. This article explains how incident management software can help you resolve incidents faster, protecting employees and your organization and helping you comply with SB 553.

What is Senate Bill 553?

Often shortened to simply SB 553, this new California law requires general (non-healthcare) organizations with 10 or more employees to adopt a workplace prevention plan. The plan must include:

• “The names of persons responsible for its implementation.
• Effective procedures for employee involvement in developing and implementing the plan.
• Methods to coordinate implementation of the plan with other employers, when applicable.
• Procedures for employers to handle and respond to reports of workplace violence, while ensuring no retaliation against the reporting employee.
• Procedures to ensure compliance from employees, including supervisors.
• Procedures to communicate with employees regarding workplace violence matters.
• Emergency response protocols.
• Training provisions.
• Procedures to identify and evaluate workplace violence hazards that include inspections with the following frequency:
  • When the plan is first set up.
  • Periodically scheduled.
  • After violent incidents.
  • Whenever a new hazard becomes known.
• Procedures to timely correct workplace violence hazards identified and evaluated.
• Procedures for post-incident response and investigation.
• Procedures that allow for plan review
  • Annually.
  • When a deficiency is observed or becomes apparent.
  • After a workplace violence incident.
• Any other procedure necessary for employee health and safety as required by the Division and Standards Board.”

READ MORE: What is SB 553? Answers to Your California Compliance Questions

The workplace violence prevention plan should be specific to the hazards of each working location and can be its own section in your existing injury and illness plan.

Organizations will also be required to keep a log of every incidence of workplace violence, even if no one was injured. These logs must be retained for at least five years. SB 553 further requires employers to keep records of workplace violence investigations, as well as “hazard identification, evaluation, and correction” for five years.

Finally, Senate Bill 553 requires that employees are trained in how to report workplace violence, identifying hazards, and the details of your workplace violence prevention plan. Employers will be required to update these training modules whenever they make changes to their violence plan and new workplace hazards are uncovered.

How Incident Management Software Helps You Comply with SB 553

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were “37,060 nonfatal injuries in the workplace resulting from an intentional injury by another person” in 2020, as well as 392 workplace homicides.

These incidents occurred across a wide range of industries, so don’t think violence can’t happen in your organization. To protect your employees and your company, you need an incident management solution that lets you track workplace violence from start to finish and comply with SB 553.

Track Violent Incident Trends

To improve safety in your workplace, you can’t merely address violent incidents after they occur. You need to figure out what types of incidents occur, where and when they happen, and the root cause.

Incident management software with a risk analysis feature can help you identify trends in workplace violence. Case IQ’s award-winning business analysis tools let you sort your incident data by type, employee, or location (e.g. work site, branch, store, region, state, etc.) into a graph, chart, or heat map to identify areas of risk.

Sorting this data manually could take hours and introduces the possibility of human error. Using a trend analysis tool helps you spot problem areas in just a few clicks. You’ll know where to increase training, update policies, or shuffle teams, and can make changes faster for better prevention.

RELATED: What is Incident Management Software?

Report on Incidents from Anywhere

Workplace violence can occur at work sites, in the field, or at the workplace itself. However, some incident management systems require you to be in the office to log an incident.

As a result, you might forget key details you need for both internal reports and those required by OSHA or other regulatory bodies. Without all the details, you might not address the incident properly, and risk similar acts of violence in the future. Waiting to report also slows down the resolution process, which increases your liability.

Incident management software with a web-based, mobile-friendly platform lets you log incidents immediately, from anywhere with an internet connection. You can upload incident details, photos, and statements right away. Not only does this help investigators should an investigation be warranted, but also ensures you’ll meet reporting deadlines.

Boost Regulatory Compliance

Complying with SB 553 and similar regulations keeps employees safe, but also protects your company from non-compliance penalties and lawsuits. Unfortunately, keeping track of which form to file and which incidents to log can be a challenge. Incident management software eliminates guesswork in two main ways.

First, incident management software keeps all case details in one place. The platform can serve as your workplace violence incident log, as all pieces of evidence, supporting documents, interview information, and final reports are stored right in the secure case file for each incident. In fact, Case IQ automates your incident logging by creating a new case file each time you receive a complaint, ensuring complete documentation without the risk of missing details in your violent incident log.

Built-in OSHA templates with guidelines also reduce the time and stress of incident reporting. For instance, if you tag an incident file as a workplace accident, you’ll be prompted to fill out OSHA Form 300. Case IQ tells you which form to use and assigns it a workflow task to ensure you meet your reporting deadline.

RELATED: The Complete Guide to Workplace Incident Investigations

Capture and Address Reports Efficiently

While some workplace violence incidents are emergencies, others can simmer or go unnoticed. That’s why a hotline is essential to uncovering red flags and minor incidents before they have time to escalate.

Choose an incident management platform like Case IQ with an integrated hotline (you can integrate your existing reporting mechanisms, too). This way, the minute a report comes in, a new case is created with the report details and assigned to a team member for triage, and investigation if necessary. Automated case creation and assignment lets you get right to work addressing the incident, reducing risk for the victim and your organization.

How Case IQ Can Help

Case IQ’s incident management software helps you uncover, investigate, and prevent incidents of workplace violence all in one secure platform. Our centralized documentation makes it easy for you to comply with the log-keeping requirements of SB 553, too. Learn how you can reduce risk for your employees and your organization using Case IQ here.