TO: All Employees
FR: Tyson Hill, Associate Vice President for Risk & Safety Services
Sonoma State University is committed to providing a safe workplace for all employees. To further this commitment, the university has released the interim Workplace Violence Prevention Plan.
To view the plan and information on how to identify and report workplace violence, please visit the Workplace Violence Prevention web page.
This interim plan was developed to comply with Senate Bill 553 (Labor Code section 6409.1), which takes effect today, July 1, 2024. Under this new law, employers are required to implement a Workplace Violence Prevention Plan to enhance the ability of an employer to prevent, identify, and respond to incidents of workplace violence.
Specifically, this plan:
- Identifies the names and job titles of the persons responsible for the implementation and maintenance of the Workplace Violence Prevention Program.
- Highlights how employees can report violent incidents, threats, or other workplace violence concerns, and how to respond to reports.
- Reinforces the university’s commitment against unlawful retaliation for reporting, in good faith, violent incidents, threats, or other workplace violence concerns, and participating in related investigations of such reports.
- Outlines procedures to respond to actual or potential workplace violence emergencies.
- Details training requirements about this plan, including the frequency of training.
- Outlines procedures to identify and evaluate workplace violence hazards.
- Communicates post-incident response and investigation processes.
To ensure all employees and employee representatives who wish to consult and contribute to the plan are given the opportunity to participate, the plan will undergo further review between now and January 1, 2025. We will keep you informed about how to engage and provide feedback in the coming weeks.
As part of the plan, all employees are required to complete annual training in the identification and prevention of workplace violence. You will be receiving a training notice through CSU Learn about this training in the coming days. This training must be completed in the next 90 days, and generally takes about 35 minutes to complete. If your department is interested in additional online or in-person training, please contact Risk Management & Safety Services at risk@sonoma.edu.
The development of the plan has been a collaborative effort, and we thank and acknowledge Human Resources, Faculty Affairs and Success, Sonoma State University Police Department, the Office of the Dean of Students, and the Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination for lending their expertise and energy to the development of this plan.
If you have any questions or immediate concerns, please contact our team at risk@sonoma.edu or by calling (707) 664-3832.