SB 553: Californian's Newest and Toughest Workplace Violence Prevention Law 

On July 1, 2024, California Senate Bill 553 (SB 553) officially came into effect, mandating that businesses implement comprehensive Workplace Violence Prevention Plans (WVPP). This legislation aims to enhance workplace safety across the state, requiring employers to proactively address potential violence. Non-compliance can result in hefty fines. To avoid these penalties, businesses must ensure their WVPPs meet the detailed criteria set forth by SB 553, encompassing yearly in-person training, incident logging, and ongoing evaluations.

How Your Business Can Be Compliant With SB 553

To comply with California SB 553, businesses must develop and implement a comprehensive Workplace Violence Prevention Plan (WVPP). Here are the key steps and components required for compliance:

1. Written Workplace Violence Prevention Plan (WVPP): Employers must create a detailed WVPP tailored to the specific hazards and risks present in their workplace. The plan should include procedures for identifying and evaluating workplace violence hazards, methods for correcting these hazards, communication protocols, and detailed employee training requirements.
2. Employee Involvement: Employers must involve employees in the development and implementation of the WVPP. This includes obtaining their input and ensuring they understand the plan.
3. Training Requirements: Employers are required to train all employees on the WVPP when it is first established and annually thereafter. Training must cover:
   • The contents and purpose of the WVPP.
   • How to obtain a copy of the WVPP.
   • How to report incidents or threats of workplace violence.
   • Specific workplace violence hazards related to their jobs and the measures in place to protect against them.
   • De-escalation techniques, emergency response procedures, and available resources for assistance.
   • An interactive Q&A session with a knowledgeable individual about the plan.
4. Incident Reporting and Investigation: Employers must establish procedures for reporting workplace violence incidents and ensure that these incidents are promptly investigated. This includes maintaining a violent incident log, documenting incidents, and conducting thorough investigations. There must also be a way for employees to report workplace violence and threats anonymously without fear of retaliation.
5. Risk Identification and Evaluation: The plan must include methods for identifying, evaluating, and correcting workplace violence hazards. This can be accomplished through a physical security audit that involves regular assessments of the workplace environment and implementing appropriate controls to mitigate identified risks.
6. Recordkeeping: Employers are required to maintain detailed records of all training sessions, incidents, and corrective actions taken. This helps in tracking the implementation and effectiveness of the WVPP.
7. Coordination and Communication: Establish procedures for coordinating roles between supervisors, management, and employees. Ensure clear communication protocols are in place, especially in high-risk situations or during emergencies.
8. Post-Incident Response: Develop and implement procedures for responding to incidents of workplace violence, including emergency response and follow-up actions to prevent future occurrences.

Employers who fail to comply with SB 553 may face significant penalties. Businesses must act proactively to meet these requirements to ensure a safer workplace and avoid penalties. Even if your organization has already missed the July 1, 2024 deadline, it must still take the steps necessary to become compliant.

A.L.I.V.E. offers a FREE DIY WVPP template with all of the information your business needs to become SB 553 compliant, in addition to Anonymous Reporting Service, Physical Security Audits of Workplace Sites, and Active Shooter Training.

SB 553 is Now Live in California - What Your Business Needs to Know

A.L.I.V.E. founder Michael Julian recently sat down with Tony Clubb to discuss what they have been hearing from businesses since California SB 553 went into law on July 1, 2024.

Michael Julian: Hey, Tony, good to see you as always. Things have really gone quickly since we started this SB 553 program. It seems like a month ago we had the idea and started putting together, but it was several months ago. And then it seems like days ago we launched it, but it's been a while now.

I mean, we're well past, the July 1 2024 deadline for California employers to have implemented their workplace violence prevention plan. And wow, have things been crazy?

Like it was interesting when we launched it and the leads and the sales started trickling in. And then we started assigning them to you and your crew and you guys started going out. And then all of a sudden.

I don't, I guess it's ever it's, there was some procrastination happening because now that we're past the deadline, things have exploded and everybody's panicking. 

And what's funny, I think is a lot of our pre-July 1 customers were downloading, the solution, we'd have a few questions and some of them actually completed it, were happy with it, you know, rave reviews.

"Thank you. It was so easy. Blah, blah, blah." And then the closer we got, the more people were going, "Oh, shoot, I'm not sure I'm going to have time to do this? Hey, can you guys do the security audits?" and, you know, "we'll do the training."

And then we got closer and now people are going, "Oh my God, I don't know what's going to happen, but you know what, what you guys do this and this and we'll take care of the one piece."

And now that we're past the July deadline, everyone is like, "Yeah, we love the downloadable solution, but we just want you guys to do it all." 

Are you seeing that? 

I mean, and, and now you're meeting with the clients and they're like kind of frantic because, I mean, Cal OSHA can come in and start fining people now. So what's your experience been with that?

Todd Clubb: Yeah, you, you hit, the nail on the head with that. And we thought there'd be this big, everybody getting it done. And it's, it's surprising that all the way up to the deadline, I would be speaking with people who own businesses just in casual conversation and I asked them about it and it was something they hadn't heard of.

So, we thought we'd get to July 1st and then everything would be nice and relaxed and everything. But it's been kind of the opposite. 

We built up to July 1st. We were helping people put together their plans. We were doing parts of it for them. They were just asking us for a kind of like a consult, just to provide some oversight.

And now that the deadline's passed, more people are aware because I'm sure businesses are sharing, "Hey, thankfully we got our program in place" and people are saying, "What program?"

So now the business is flooding in. So, yeah, we're still going and the crew's out there doing whatever they need to do to help them get themselves in compliance.

Site Inspections For SB 553 Compliance

Michael J.: Yeah. And now people want it in every language known to on the planet. We're getting all kinds of different language requests and we just have to keep translating I guess.

You've probably become somewhat of a master site inspector at this point because you're, you've done so many of them. And I mean, personally, I believe our product, what you do for the site inspection is literally a threat risk and vulnerability assessment. I mean, short of you going down and, and getting, you know, crime statistics and stuff, it is really, it's, it's a very, very detailed, thorough inspection, you know, with a 24-page report with a colored priority of, of thread and vulnerability and, you know, you better get this fixed right away and you'll probably be OK. It's amazing.

How have you, what's your experience been, with the site inspections and the gamut? Like you've had [everything from] teeny tiny little locations up to massive buildings, right?

Todd C.: Yeah, it's been all over the spectrum. Like you said, we've had little operations where it's one or two people and we've had four and five-story buildings where we're literally going through every floor.

I think what people, it's the, the product's been great because people that don't have the ability to pay, don't make enough money to bring us in to do things for them they're able to work through it with the elbow grease, but like you said, a lot of people are getting to that point, especially with those inspections they just don't feel comfortable doing it. 

So they bring us in and we do it.

And we've taken what could be the security threat assessment and we've tweaked it to be SB 553 focused.

So you're getting all the extra stuff that you would with a security threat assessment and then you're also getting it to be in compliance with SB 553 because there's certain things that don't, wouldn't be in both, but we make sure that everything that SB 553 wants you to look at, we're addressing.

Micahel J.: Yeah and those site inspection reports are so robust.  I don't want to say it's overkill because it's more than is necessary by SB 553, but it covers a lot of bases that frankly it's been kind of cool to see the clients' faces and get the feedback when they see the report and go, "Wow, we did not expect this with the pictures and the different threat levels and the recommendations."

I think it probably, I feel like it's given some of our clients a little bit of peace understanding now their threat profile or their, you know, their vulnerability.

And some have come out way ahead of the curve and some are like," Holy cow, we are basically naked in this crazy world right now."

So that's been kind of neat.

Todd C.: Yeah, it's great to see them get the report and actually go through the report and then come back to you and sit down and want to talk to you about certain aspects, whether it's something that was deemed a vulnerability or deemed to be in good standing and, and not a vulnerability for them to address.

It also as you said, reinforces that they are doing a lot of things right. They like that and they like to see it because we don't just address vulnerabilities, we talk about what you're doing as it relates to 553, what you're doing right. What have you done to address 553?

So it's not just a, hey, here's the six things that we found that you need to improve. We talk about, "Hey, we also addressed these 15 categories and you're good." 

Or at least from what we saw in interviews and inspections, you look like you're doing what you need to be doing to protect your environment and keep your employees safe.

Free SB 553 Site Inspection Checklist

Michael J.: Yeah, yeah, I'll tell you one thing, and you were with me when we went to that one, that one presentation that was a hybrid. It's actually HR managers, it will, you know, because they wanted to see it. And a bunch of them wanted to know more about it and then they wanted an A.L.I.V.E. presentation, so of course I was happy to do that.

But I thought it was neat that one guy, I don't recall his name now, but when I'm asking questions about, you know, who's familiar with the program and the laws and blah, blah, blah. 

And the one guy raised his hand and oh, do you know our program? He raised his hand. He goes, "Yeah, I downloaded [the free WVPP Template for SB 553]." I go, "Really, what was your impression?" 

And he goes, "I'm done. I used everything in that thing. I just filled in the blanks. I did the site inspection checklist, which I thought would be really, really difficult."

And he said, "Basically, I just went down the line and just answered the questions based on what you were asking and filled it out and did the whole thing."

And it was very reassuring, I guess, that what we have created was a good product. We knew it was. But, you know, you never know what the consumer's going to think until they do, until they have an opinion.

It was really neat to hear the guy say, "Yeah, I, I just used your product and, and your solution and did everything myself." So that was, that was very, very cool.

And then also Dorothy, she's been in HR for 40-some years, she was our host [at this event]. And she goes, "When I got it, I couldn't believe how thorough it was, right?" I mean, that felt pretty good.

Todd C.: Yeah, that was definitely OK. If someone with that much experience in that realm looks at it and says, "Yeah", you know what a stickler she is for details and compliance, so that's the name of that industry, and yeah, she gave it her approval, and thumbs up and she felt so comfortable, you know, she was giving it out to her her clients.

So that's that's awesome to get that reassurance that we met that need.

Active Shooter Training As Part of WVPP

Michael J.: Yeah, that felt pretty good.

Also, it's been interesting that it was, it's been a shoe into so many organizations that you get the 20-minute video of me presenting, the five steps of A.L.I.V.E. so it covers the active shooter requirement.

But they wanted more. I mean, I think we have more A.L.I.V.E. clients now for active shooter because they got a taste of it. They saw the 20-minute video and then their employees wanted a longer one. You know, the biggest complaint was it wasn't long enough. 

So now they're hiring us to do the one-hour or the two-hour module B's, everything that I was not expecting because they already paid for what we give them. 

And what we give them, the 20-minute active shooter portion in that [downloadable] solution is literally what I've had clients pay me 10s of thousands of dollars before because they've got thousands of employees and they could have it for [free].

So I mean there, I guess I probably shouldn't have said that that's anybody watching is now going to get a really good deal on a short active shooter survival little training there.

But what's it been like with the, you know, translating the data, you know, into the plan and then into the PowerPoint and then, you know, how's the reception? How's it been received by the employees?

Todd C.: It's been great. 

I mean, when we sat down at that event that you mentioned a while back, where it was all the HR managers, and we literally walked through and showed them how we developed the program so that they follow our checklist and they checked the box and they used the form used.

Everything was so seamless. Your plan matches your training and it's very easy to put in place.

And then when you're getting it and you're providing it to the people, you're basically teaching about what's going on with workplace violence. And, and a lot of people don't even realize what constitutes a threat or act of violence and then we lay that out there.

And then again, we go in and we kind of overdid it, like we try to do all the time, and we tell them, hey, here's how to recognize someone that's maybe going in that direction. Here's how to maybe deal with somebody who's escalating, how we can de-escalate, and some tips.
So we go through all that.
They find it very informative and helpful. If they find themselves in that situation, they feel like they have the skills and techniques to manage it.

Fines for Not Complying with SB 553

Michael J.: Yeah, I think the biggest problem we're facing right now is because we're past the deadline and everybody's panicking.
It's kind of like they're being reactive, they're in reaction mode. Typically when you're in reaction mode, things get a little bit more tense because they know those $17, $18, $23,000 fines they could be looking at could happen at any point.

So there's a greater sense of urgency now that we're past the deadline. So, of course, they're calling you every day going, hey, how's it going? Are we almost done yet?

But you've done an amazing job putting this program together. I'm very, very thankful and grateful for that.

Let's see, what else can we talk about? Any thoughts?

Tony C.: Do you want to talk about some common issues that we're finding when we're doing our inspections?

Yeah, yeah.

Common Issues Found In PHYSICAL Site Audits

Michael J.: So what's a common vulnerability, situation, or issue you're finding when you do the site inspections?

Tony C.: I'd say the biggest thing that we run into right now vulnerability-wise and most common is access control.

And it's for a couple of different reasons.

And each site has its own kind of situation. So some of them, just don't have access control.
They have a gate where they can control people entering and exiting the property, but they leave it open because nobody wants to go out and check in people. So you have that aspect. 

A lot of it, when you look at things that could be fixed, it's just because people don't want to put forth the effort because they want to make it easy. The problem is when you make it easy for people to get in and out, sometimes the bad people get in when you don't want them to get in.

So access control is a good one.

And then the other part of that is people put door locks and everything in place the card swipes are great, but then when we do our inspection and we walk around, we find the doorstop sitting off to the side or hidden in the bush or rock and will come across and the doors will be open. You can tell they get propped open and as soon as you do that, you lose your access control.

So that's probably the biggest one that we find when we go and it's been at pretty much every place except for I think two that we've inspected have had access control issues.

Everyone Is Responsible for Security

Michael J.: You know, what I think's been really powerful is after you've done the training, the workplace violence prevention plan training to employees and you say, you know, you're the, the famous question is "Who's responsible for security in an organization?" and people look around and go, well, where's the security guy?

And you say everyone is. I think that the training brings education and awareness to security that most people and employees just never think about and don't learn at their organization. They're not taught.

So when they sit there and are, you know, thinking, boy, there are other things I'd rather do. And then you start talking about why you shouldn't leave doors propped open, why you shouldn't let people piggyback in through access control.
And then we make, you know, certain statements like "This is why Uvalde ended up such a disaster because somebody somebody propped a door that is always locked in the back of that school."
It really hits home.

I believe that, you know, as critical as I am of this, the way this law (SB 553) was written, because it's not as clean as it should be and it's not as specific, and the direction is not there, and there's a lot of gray. I really believe it's a good thing because it is bringing security awareness to every employee. And they're together and now they're talking about it.

They're having conversations about it and going, gosh, I guess that is a bad idea to prop that door open. They've got a new security consciousness that they didn't have before they got this training, which I think is so valuable.

Todd C.: Oh, yeah, definitely. Like you said, the awareness and just knowing why things happen. A lot of time people don't understand well, why is this door locked? Why do I have to swipe my card and take an extra few seconds every time I enter or exit through this door?
And then when you break it down [to the employee] and you, you give them a couple of examples of when situations could have been prevented just by some simple little basic following the procedures that are already in place, then they kind of get a clearer picture that they are part of the whole security team of the organization.

They're not just an employee, they're they're a member of a team that's trying to be secure and have a safe work environment.

Michael J.: Yeah, there's a consciousness and mindfulness now that wasn't there because people outside our world just don't think about security unless they were brought up in a family where they were taught that.
So, yeah, these, these trainings have been, I, I really believe they've been amazing and they're good and, and absolutely will thwart future threats.
I think because they will, they will be harder targets.

You know, they're, they're hardening their target so they won't be as vulnerable because they're now security conscious where they were not before.
I'm critical of the way, how the law (SB 553) was written because it's just so much left to interpretation. And we won't know really what's right and wrong with some things until they start issuing the big fines.

But it's bringing security awareness to organizations and to employees who will then take it home to their families, I hope, that just never would have been there before.
So for that reason, I think this law is a really, really good thing.

It's not going to be for some folks that are not paying attention and implementing, you know, what they need to, it's going to be expensive, but you know, it, it'll be a hard and expensive lesson.

Todd C.: Oh yeah. And I think it, it's just like the A.L.I.V.E. (active shooter) program when we go out and we teach that to an organization group of people and we tell them, hey, this is great. Not just in your work environment, but take these things to your everyday life and where are you frequently share it with your family so that everybody's safer in the environment and so that they know what they should be looking out for. So that's the goal also.

We're giving you training in your work site, but this is stuff you can take elsewhere. How often do we see people arguing in the store, arguing in a parking lot?
We talked about de-escalation, how to look for indicators that someone might take it to that next level, and what you can do to prevent yourself from being a victim in that type of situation. Then we want you to go home and share it with your family. You don't want your family to be a victim.

So we give you the resources and the knowledge and now you go share it. And now the whole group becomes safer.

Micahel J.: Absolutely. Now you have trained the full gamut of employees, admin people, line workers, ditch diggers, technical people, computer programmers, everybody. What experiences or stories do you have or who has been the most receptive or least receptive?

Todd C.: You know, it's kind of funny you ask that. I was just teaching a class, and I taught it for one organization but they had all those different people there. So you'd like to say sometimes when you get to your, your field crews and stuff, they kind of sit in the back of the room like this. But I think in this type of situation, they're pretty open to it and they want to hear about what you have to say. I think we've, we've captured them in that.

And then on the flip side, I was dealing with that same organization and they had some people that were pretty much like scientists. And I was forewarned that because I said, well, they weren't very interactive. They said they're very cerebral. It'll take them a day or two. And they said, so don't be surprised if we send you some emails with some questions to follow up on your training, because it's going to take them a day or two to kind of absorb the information and then come up with some questions.

But by and large, it's been very well received by all categories.

Active Shooter Training

Micahel J.: That's good. Well, and the good thing is once you know the training is there, there's a 20-minute, you know, the A.L.I.V.E. 20-minute active shooter portion of it. They're not sitting in a classroom for two hours. It's typically under about an hour, right?

Todd C.: Yeah, we're right about the hour. It depends 'cause we'll open it up for questions.
And that's where I mean, we love the engagement because we want to make sure when you walk out of that room, you completely understand your role and also all the guidelines related to preventing workplace violence that your organization has put in place.

So we encourage if they need us to stay hours and answer questions, hey, we're there for it to make sure that everybody understands the plan and it's a safer environment in the end.

Micahel J.: Well it would have been better for us if people had started implementing this earlier because now they're panicked and they're coming to us in droves. And your schedule and all our guys' schedules are so full and they're, you know, working a lot of hours. But I'm glad to see that people are taking this law seriously.

But you know what, I think, you know, until I don't even know what to expect, but I'm sure up until the end of this year, it is going to, it's not going to slow down because there are companies still just finding out about SB 553.

What If You Missed the SB 553 Deadline?

You know, a lot of the, a lot of our clients, the bigger companies have full-blown HR managers that are going to getting the HR newsletters and going to HR conferences and hearing from all the labor attorneys that are going, oh, we've got this new SB 553 law and it's going to be terrible. 

And so people started earlier, but there are companies that are qualified that, that have to adhere to SB 553 that don't have necessarily a full-time dedicated HR manager telling them this stuff. And the owners of the company are just now finding out that it's got to be done and it's already past the deadline.

So that's unfortunate, but I don't see it slowing down anytime soon because people are, companies are still finding out about this thing. And luckily we have a good solution for them.

I have experienced many comments in, you know, my post, social media posts where we're advertising this product, you know, hammering me for not giving it away or saying, oh, it's free here and Cal OSHA has a free version and these guys have a free version.

And, you know, we've already looked at all the freebies and all the paid versions, and nobody has anything anywhere near as comprehensive as our solution because we looked at everybody's and went, oh, I like that, you know, so we put that sentence in or that makes sense.

We created a good product, but then looked at everybody else's and went, oh, yeah, you know what, we're going to throw that in because more in this situation is better than not enough. Yeah?

Todd C.: Oh, yeah, definitely. And that's what I think when we referenced that one event that we were at, as we walk through it and we walk them through I, I could see some relief because some of the HR people knew that there was something that had to be in place by July 1st, but didn't anticipate the gravity of it.
They put it on their calendar and said, OK, in June, I'm going to open this up and I'm going to figure out what I need to do.

Then in June, they opened it up and they realized, oh, it's not just writing a new policy, it's a whole litany of things that I have to do.

And then when we were in our meeting, several of them, I saw their anxiety level come down as we walked them through and said, look, we built a product so that you can get this done quickly. If you have the experience and the comfort level. And then when we also said, hey, but if you need us, we can do one part, all of it.

And so then I saw their anxiety come down. But I mean, still, it was a big push when they were in June trying to get it done. And then now, of course, now, it's an even bigger push.

If you find out in July or August that there's this thing you should have had in place on July 1st and then everybody's like, hey, picking up the phone and what was that thing you were telling us about a while back? Can you help us? 

Michael J.: And not knowing what you don't, you know what you don't know has been stressful too for some of these people. Then they find out about it, download our product, look at it, and go, Oh my God, I've got to do all this.

And then they open it up and go, oh, that's not so bad. I can just fill in a few spaces here and ask a few questions and so forth and so on.

Mandatory Workplace Violence Incident Tracking

I think it's also going to be beneficial because now that it's mandatory when there is a threat of workplace violence or actual violence, it is going to be logged appropriately with the right, with a lot of detail. 

You know, as a private investigator for 34 years, I've done so many investigations at workplaces where there was some kind of incident. And I say, you know, "Do you have an incident report?" and they have nothing or they've got, you know, a sticky note like this with a name and number, no details.

But with our, we know with our investigation questionnaire, they're getting all the details that are necessary for a full-blown investigation, whether it be, you know, through law enforcement, It's good detail.

If there's ever a situation with a civil lawsuit, which you know, you know, comes with a lot of these incidences, either that one or both people are suing each other or something like that, having that detail years later, is going to be so incredibly beneficial to the company hopefully or to whoever was in the right basically. And the bad guy, the instigator or whatever is there's more evidence and more information for the authorities and for whoever because somebody took our form and answered the questions instead of just taking a sheet of paper and went, OK, name and this happened. Boom.

Todd C.: So I think that's going to prove years down the line that's going to be proved to be an incredible asset.

And I think one of the things that gets missed in those post-incident investigations is documenting exactly what you did to help your victim employee.

And so in ours (Workplace Violence Prevention Planning Template), there's that check-off portion where we make you say, hey, did you offer them services? Did you tell them services were available? Did they take you up on that so that down the line, because it's always a claim, "Well, you know, I told them about it. Nobody did anything about it."

Where this is going to document, Hey, not only did we investigate and try to find out what actually happened, but we're also off your offering you services so that you can, you know, get back to your norm and bring back your safety and security net that you had around you before this incident happened.

Michael J.: Well, I hope now that we're past the deadline and we've seen how people are, are panicking with this sense of urgency to get it done. And it's just a tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of employers and companies in California that are that qualified to actually have to adhere to this thing. I just don't see it. We're just going to have to keep hiring people to do the inspections and training and stuff, you know?

Todd C.: Yeah. I mean, because also part of this is every year you gotta go reevaluate your whole program. And if you had incidents, you gotta figure out, you know, what do I need to do? So these incidents happen. 

Actually, you have to do that much before the end of the year, but as part of your violent incident log, by the end of the year, you have to evaluate your whole program as a whole and determine if anything needs to be changed. And then you have to retrain your staff again.

Anonymous Reporting of Workplace Violence

Micahel J.: And, you know, and remember when I was asking questions about, you know, what else do they need?

What could we provide that they need or that they don't have?

I was really shocked at how many people don't have any kind of anonymous reporting system for threats, harassment, retaliation, or discrimination. And clearly, that's something that we need to implement.

You know, I had the idea of the online form that people could fill out. It'd go to us and we would then turn around and send it to the employer because once they know there's a problem, then they can fix it.

But if, if somebody's getting harassed or threatened and they don't tell anybody, it could go on and on and on and fester and get worse and worse and worse and then really blow up.

But being able to report it so that then they can either, whether they hire us or do an internal investigation, find out what's going on and nip it in the bud before it gets to that point I think is so important.

But I, I just, I think a lot of companies don't think in, in those terms because they've never had an issue.

But workplace violence can happen anywhere, anytime, you know, in the workplace, you just don't know when and you don't know the circumstances. So all of a sudden, Pow. 

I just think a lot of employers are going to be much, much better prepared now that they're implementing SB 553 and frankly, we just made it really easy for them.

I love the one guy that said, I couldn't believe how easy it was, I just followed the steps that you gave us.

And you know, another thing that I think is so important about this product, as you know intimately that law (SB 553) is so many pages long and so many words that don't shouldn't even be in there and convoluted. It's hard to read and hard to hard to understand but when people get the product and are explainer video and are in layman's terms, basically breaks it down so it's understood. 

Look, I don't like reading contracts with legalese. My brain starts to heat up and smoke comes out of my ears because, you know, I'm not that bright. I think it just really helps companies understand what the law is so that it's not so scary. Because a lot of people are freaked out because they're hearing from, you know, the labor attorneys and their HR friends about this horrific law.

It is a horrific law.

But the solution is easy.

The SB 553 Downloadable Template

And when they get our product and they look at it and they watch the video and they open the thing and go, oh, I can do that. It's so much less scary. I think that's worth the price of the product by itself, let alone the fact that it actually solves all their problems.

Todd C.: Yeah, definitely. And then one of the other things that we've run into is that people when you pull up SB 553 and it gives you everything that the law has changed or put into place, people start reading it. And it starts with all the temporary restraining order information. So people get caught up in that.

I think when you print it out, probably 2/3 to 3/4 of it is all about the temporary restraining orders, what the courts have to do, what the attorneys have to do, and how much time.

It's not till you get to the end that you get to the meat of what you need to know as a business owner.

So people get caught up on all the dates that are associated with the temporary restraint orders.

And by the time you get to what you actually have to do, that's at the very end. That's like the last few pages of legislation when you print it up. And that's the meat of it where you really have to figure out, OK, I've got to put these things in place and it's outlined sometimes they missed.

That last bit is July 1st. There may be some other dates off in the future about temporary restraining orders and your bargaining units and what they can do. They may have some later dates. But the big thing for business owners is all the stuff outlined which says you have to have all these things in place.

Micahel J.: Yeah, by July 1st, and now it's past that and they're going oh, no. Well, you're doing a heck of a job. I appreciate you.

I continue to enjoy your stories of the experiences you have with the different situations and, how one company with multiple locations, you may go to one location, and the security profile is completely different than the other. Where you can just walk... I remember, it was funny, you went down to do one and you just walked on and started taking pictures of how easy it was for anybody, any member of the public to get into their facility. That was an eye-opener for that guy. Remember the client on that one? 

That was very, very interesting and I think some heads rolled probably from that one. But then they have another facility in a different town that's completely locked down. 

Todd C.: It's interesting to see, especially when you get a big organization like that. I think what the higher-ups really enjoyed is that now they have a written document. They have their policy that says this is supposed to be a secure entry point at your site, and holding people accountable has been an issue and now they have a report.

So now it's double. 

Now I have a report that says, because I walked onto your property and I pretty much did whatever I wanted and nobody addressed me, and you have your policy in place and now they can sit down with that person that's in charge of that, organized that operation, that specific site, and say, OK, here's our expectation. 

We need to have a safer location.

Michael J.: Well, it's been interesting so far, and it's just going to keep getting more and more interesting. And we're going to have lots more fun stories, I think of your experiences and the guys' experiences. And thank goodness we've got a good crew of people that you trained under you in language, you know, Spanish and so forth that are out there so that they're able to make this happen.

Because when you turn in the, when you've done the final training and turn around and see the HR manager, she's like, or he's like one less thing I got to deal with. Because, and that's a big one.

That's a big one. And that's, you know, and, frankly, I think because we're not super expensive to do the fulfillment when they want us to do it.

I think it's a, it's a pretty big sigh of relief also but again, at the end of the day, the security awareness that the whole team, the whole employment pool at this organization has now that they never ever would have thought of or considered or learned had it not been for this law.

You know, as much as I think it, it needed to be written a little cleaner, you know, it, it started a really good thing. And I, I'm sure you agree, it feels good to be able to help these companies get into that place where they are safer.

Because like we've already said, and the reason that this checklist, for the site inspection, is so important, HR people, most of them don't come from a security background.

So that is scary. They don't have the confidence. "I have no idea how to do a site inspection" And then boom, we give them the sheet or they just don't have the time they hire you to do it, which is pretty good too.

Well, listen, my friend, I appreciate you keep killing it out there.

And we should have another one of these here in a couple of months and see if we have any great news stories.

Todd C.: Yep. Thank you for all the support. And yeah, it's great. We love going out there and helping everyone.

Micahel J.: All right, brother, see you soon.

Todd C.: All right, see you later.

The deadline for SB 553 has already passed! Don't get caught without having your Workplace Violence Prevention Plan in place. Let A.L.I.V.E. help you every step of the way!