Recommendations for Workplace Violence Prevention Programs

1 RecommendationsforWorkplaceViolencePreve ntionProgramsinLate-NightRetailEstablish mentsOSHA3153-12R2009 OccupationalSafetyandHealthActof1970 Toass uresa fe an d he al th fu l working condi tio nsforworkin g menandwomen ; by au th orizingenforc ement of thest andardsdevelopedund ertheAc t; by assist ingandencou ragingtheSt atesintheir efforts to assuresafeandhealthf ul worki ngconditions; by pr ovidingfo r research,in for mation,education, an d trainingin thefi eldof occupation alsafetyandhealth. Thispublicationprovides a general overview of apa rticularstandards-relat edtop ic . Thi s pu bl ica tio ndoe s not alter or det ermine compl ia nce responsi bi liti eswhi ch are set fo rth in OSHAsta nda rds,andtheOccupationalSa fety and Health Act of , be causeinterpretationsandenforcementpo licymay ch angeover ti me,for ad dit io nal guidanceon OSHA compliancerequire ments,thereadershouldconsult currentadministrativ e interpreta-tionsandde ci si onsbytheOccupationalSa fetyandHea lth Revi ew Co mmiss io n contai nedin thi s pu bl ica tio n is in the pub licdo mainandmaybere pr od uc ed , fully or pa rti al ly ,withoutper editis requestedbutnotrequire s in for mat io n wi ll bemade availa bl e to sensoryimpairedindivi dualsup onrequest.

2 Voic e ph on e:(2 02)69 3-1999; te let ypewriter (T TY ) nu mber:1- 877-88 io nsfo r Workpla ceViole nc ePr eve ntionPr ogramsinLate-NightRetailEstablishmentsOc cupa ti on al Safet y andHealth AdministrationU. S. De pa rtment of LaborOSHA 315 3- 12R2009 Theserecommend at ion s ar e ad vi soryin naturean d informationalin co nt en t. It is nota standa rd orregulation,andit nei the r cr ea tes newlegalobligationsno r alters ex ist in g ob li gat io ns createdbyOSHA standards or th eOccupationalSa fety and Heal th Act. Pursuant to theOSHAct,employersmust comply wi th saf ety andhea lt h standardsandregulationsissued an d en for cedeit herbyOSHAor by an OSHA-ap pr ove d St at e Pl an. These stateplan sta tes may havestan dards th at addressworkplaceviole nc e.

3 Empl oy ers are responsibleforfollowingthestandardsin thest ates wheretheyha veworksites. Ap pen di x C pr ov idesa summaryof ex istingState Plan stan dar dsad dressi ngwork-pl addi ti on, theAct s GeneralDutyClause , Section5(a)(1) , requi resemploy ersto pro-vi detheir employee s wi th a wor kp lacefreefromrecognize d hazardsli kel y to cause death or se riousph ysical ha dHealthAdministrationAckn owledgementsManypeople an d org an iza ti onscontributedto thi spublication. OSHAwi she s to tha nkthecontributingresearchers,educat ors , re pr ese nt ativesof vi ctims groups, industry , andlawenf or cement personnelfortheir commentsandsug ges ti E C O M M E N D A T I O N S F O R W O R K P L A C E V I O L E N C E P R E V E N T I O N P R O G R A M S I NL A T E - N I G H T R E T A I L E S T A B L I S H M E N T S3 ContentsIntroduction4 Viol encePrevention Pr og rams6 Management Co mmitment andWorkerInvolvement6 Wor ksite Analysis7Ha zard Preve ntionand Cont rol8 Safety andHealth Train ing10 Recordk ee pingandProgra m Ev al uations11 Conclusion13 Appendices14Ap pendix A:SampleWorkplace Vi ole nc e Fa ct or san d ControlCh ecklists14Ap pendix B:In cident ReportForms25Ap pendix C.

4 Stat es wi th Workplac e Vi ol enc e St andards31Ap pendix D:Bibliogr aphy an d Refere nce s32 OSHA Assistance35 OSHA RegionalOf fices37 IntroductionWorkplace vi olence , whet her it is definednarrowlyto includeonlyviolen t cr im ina l ac ts,or broadlytoinclude verbal thr ea ts, has lon g af th ese rec ommendationstohelplate-nightre ta il employ er s de signandimple-mentpreventionpr og rams ta il ore d to theworkplaceviolence hazards in thei r bu si nes data,whilelimited,sugge st s th at late -n ightretailestab-lishments,suchas co nve ni enc e st ores,li quorstores, andgasoli nesta tio ns , ex periencerelativelyhighhomicidean d assa ul t ra tes . Thisbookletismeantto providegu ida nc e to ret ail employerssotheymayavoid su chinc ide nt s wheneverpos ard s th at leadto violentinci-dentsandimplementi ngapp rop ri ate preventionandcontrol measures,emplo ye rs will improvethesafe-ty of theirworkers.

5 OSHA enco ur agesemployerstoestablishviolencepre ven ti on prog ramsandto tracktheirpr ogress in redu ci ng work -r every in cid en t ca n beprevented, theseverityof injuriessus tai ne d optingpra ct ica l meas ures,suchasthoseoutlinedin thi s pu bli ca tio n, cansignifi cantlyreduce thisserious th re at to worke r oftheProblemAccordingto theBu re au of La bor Statistics (BLS)Cen sus of Fata l Occ upational Injuriesfor2007,assaults andviolent act s cl aim ed864livesin 2007andrepresentedov er 15% of th e total5,657work-placefat alitiesin th e Unit ed Stat es . Ho mi ci des rep-resentedthemajor it y of the se viol entacts,cl aiming628livesin 2007, or 11%of fata li (a tot al of 16 7) occurredin theretail trades, wi th 39occ ur rin g at conveniencestores, 32occurri ng at ga sol in e st ations and7occurringat liquor st or es.

6 Whi le homicideshaveshowna markedov er all dec li ne since1994whentheypeakedat 1,080, theywere th e th irdleadingcauseof work-rela te d de ath s in 2007,andremainaseriousris k fo r lat e- nig ht ret ail m th e BLSSur ve y ofOccupationalIn jurie s an d Illn es sesfo r 20 07 suggeststhatnon-fatalviolentincidents hav e al soimpactedretail erall, pri vate ind us try exp erienceda lt andvio len t acts (a tot al of24,230in cidents)bu t co nve ni enc e storesexperi-enceda ra te of ove r 20 .0 (a to ta l of 410incidents).In 2005,BLSconduc ted ano ther surveyspecifi callyon work plac e vio lence preven tio thi s survey ,BL S asked emplo yer s abo ut thei r establishments operatio ns, pro grams an d polic ie s reg ardin g work-plac e vio lence. Thes e sur vey resultsshowed thatwhile4.

7 8%of all pr ivate in du stry esta blishmentsre por ted exp er iencin g some for m of workplacevio-lence, % of employers fr omthere ta il tra dere port-ed exp eriencing such anin cid en t. Retai l trade estab-lis hmen ts whic h did exp erie nc e suchin ci dentsalsore por ted having hig her rat es of ab se nteeismdu e tothes e in cid en ts thandid allpri vate industr y estab-lis hmen ts. Surp ris in gly , % of retail tradeemplo ye rs report ed that such in cidents hadneg a-ti ve impactsonworke rs,only1. 9% re ported chang-ingtheir pr ogram or policyafter an rdi ngto anea rlier sur vey co nductedby th Bu re auof Ju sti ce Stat is tic s (BJ S) , retail sa lesoccu pat io ns had the th ir d hig hes t victimization rate,af ter work ers in the lawen for cementandmentalhea lt h pro fessio ns.

8 The BJ S Na tio na l CrimeVi ct im ization Surv ey(19 93-1 99 9) foundthat20ou tof 1,000 workers in ret ailhadex pe rie nced someformof si mple or agg rav atedassa ultin the work-plac e ann ually, an d th e rat e for conveni en ce storean d ga s stat io n workers was much rra te was .3 per 1,00 0 workers, respec -tively. In ad dit ion, 21%of all Workplace ro bb eri esin vo lv edpe rsonnel in ret ailsales .Theris k fact orsA number of fac tors put lat e- night retailworkers atri sk . Thes e in clude : The exchang e of money(mak in g themta rg etsfor ro bber y); Sol o work and is olat ed work sit es; The saleof alc ohol; Poorlyli t stor es an d parkin g area s; and Lac k of staff trainin g in recognizingandmanag-in g es calati nghos tileand ag gre ssi vebe havio Eff ect iveVi olence Preve ntio n ProgramIn January 1989, OSHA publishedvoluntary,generi c saf ety and healt h pro gra m manag ementguid elines,3follo wedbyrec ommendatio nsfo r work-4 OccupationalSafetyan dHealthAdministration1 Incidenceratesfornon-fatalinjuriesandill nessesinvolvingdaysawayfromworkis definedas thenumberof incidentsper10, WorkplaceViolencePreventionlookedat theprevalenceof securityfeatures,therisksfacingworkers,e mployerpoliciesandtraining,andrelatedtop icsassociatedwithmaintaininga sSafetyand HealthProgramManagementGuidelines;Issuan ceof VoluntaryGuidelines,54 Fed.

9 ,January26, E C O M M E N D A T I O N S F O R W O R K P L A C E V I O L E N C E P R E V E N T I O N P R O G R A M S I NL A T E - N I G H T R E T A I L E S T A B L I S H M E N T S5place Violence pr eventi onpro gra msin late-nightret ailestablishments, pub li she d in e vio -lence preventionin fo rm ati onpre sentedin thisdoc-ument buildsonthose guid el ine s byidentifyingri skfactorsan d describing so me feas ive , th es e workplaceviolenceguidelines in cludepoli cy rec ommendationsandpractical corrective met ho ds to he lp preventandmitigatetheef fectsof workp la ce violencein late-night retail establishment of thisdocu ment is to encourageemployers to im plemen t pr og rams to identify thepotentialrisksof workpl ac e vi ole ncean d to imple-mentcorrective measu res.

10 Th es e recommendationsareno t a modelpr ogr am or a rigidpackageofviolencepr eventionste ps unif or mly applicable to allestablishments. Nosing le str ate gyis appropriateforallbusinesses,sinceenv ir onmen tal andotherri skfactorsfo r workplacevio len ce dif fer may use a combinationofstr ategies recommend edin th is document,asappropriate,fortheir pa rt icu la r OSHA encou ra ges emplo yersto developawrittenpr ogramforworkp la ce viol enceprevention,th e exten t to whic h the compo nen ts of the pr og ramar e in writ in g is le ss im port an t thanhoweff ecti veth e progra m is in prac tic e. Byim ple ment ingappro-pr iat e haz ard preventionan d control measures,an den sur in g managemen t andwor ker involvement,emplo ye rs will tak e the most cr it ic al stepsin pr o-te cti ngthe ir work plac e fro m violentacts.