Workplace Violence Training Video – [Complete Kit]

This workplace violence prevention training video is a 16-minute program that teaches employees how to recognize the warning signs of violence at work, how to handle the three kinds of threats they may hear (veiled, conditional and direct), what to report and to whom, and how to defuse a confrontation before it turns physical. It is the general program: it applies in every state and follows the framework OSHA uses when it enforces workplace violence under the General Duty Clause, Section 5(a)(1) of the OSH Act, which requires every employer to keep the workplace free of recognized hazards. OSHA treats workplace violence as one of those hazards.

OSHA and NIOSH group workplace violence into four types: criminal intent (Type I), customer or client (Type II), worker-on-worker (Type III) and personal relationship (Type IV). This course spends most of its time on the two that employers meet most often, conflicts between coworkers and threats from outsiders, and shows employees what to do in each. It is sold as a DVD or USB kit in English or Spanish, with the trainee quiz, sign-in sheet and reusable certificate you need to document the training, and it is also in our online library.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts hundreds of workplace homicides every year, and for each fatal incident there are far more threats, assaults and episodes of verbal abuse that never make the news. The point of this training is to have every employee recognize a situation that is heading the wrong way and act before it gets there.

What This Workplace Violence Prevention Course Covers:

• How is “violence” defined in the workplace? (physical, verbal, and emotional all play a potential role)
• What are the two sources of workplace violence? (Inside, which are employees of your company, and outside, which are committed by people your company doesn’t employ)
• What is the most common cause of workplace violence? (disagreements or personality conflicts between employees)
• Do all workplace violence incidents involve only employees? (No. Outside threats include acts of violence by non-employees, customers, vendors, terrorists, and more.)
• What are the warning signs or red flags associated with violence in the workplace? (an employee who becomes defensive or overreacts to comments or criticism, a suddenly irritable co-worker who shows emotional outbursts or mood swings, etc.)

Additional Workplace Violence Training Topics Covered:

• What three types of threats can be found in the workplace, and how should each be handled? (veiled, conditional, and direct)
• How is verbal abuse defined, and what are some examples? (bullying, mocking, intimidation, insults, etc.)
• What are some red flags of workplace violence potential among employees?
• What are the best practices of any workplace violence prevention program when it comes to preventing violence on the job?
• What should employees do if they are threatened, either physically or verbally?

Training on Conflict Escalation Among Employees:

• How disagreements between coworkers can escalate into insults, challenges, and threats and eventually become physical confrontations
• For employees, psychological harm caused by threats, intimidation, and verbal abuse can be as serious as physical injuries
• How the three kinds of threats are defined: veiled, conditional, and direct
• What employees and employers can do to prevent workplace violence
• The importance of employees reporting what they see (co-workers with weapons, unfamiliar or unauthorized people in their work area)
• How employees should respond to an unreasonable or irrational person who confronts them

This workplace violence training is a must-see for employees. It teaches the key concepts, risk factors, and OSHA framework surrounding workplace violence. Employee awareness is what lets a company recognize workplace violence and reduce or eliminate incidents before they occur: watching for warning signs, reporting incidents, resolving conflicts peacefully, and knowing the company’s violence prevention program.

The everyday access-control side of this subject, visitors, deliveries, doors, parking lots and reporting, is covered in our workplace security training video kit; many companies run that program for everyone and add this course on top.

What Is in the Workplace Violence Training Kit

• Full-length workplace violence training video (16:21, English or Spanish)
• Trainee quiz and answer sheet
• Presenter’s guide for leading the session in person
• Employee sign-in sheet
• Certificate of Completion, editable (name and date) and reusable for every session

How You Can Deliver the Training

The kit ships on DVD or USB stick in English or Spanish (each language is a separate kit). Play the video at a staff meeting or new-hire orientation, hand out the quiz, and file the answer sheet, sign-in sheet and certificate with each employee’s training record. Everything in the kit can be reused for every new hire and every refresher. If you would rather assign this course online with automatic completion tracking, it is part of our online safety training library of 250+ courses.

Workplace Violence Training Video Full-Length Preview:

Workplace Violence Training Requirements

What OSHA Requires

OSHA has no specific workplace violence standard. What applies is the General Duty Clause, and OSHA cites employers under it when a recognized risk of violence goes unaddressed. OSHA’s workplace violence prevention program guidance describes five core elements that an effective program is built on:

• Management commitment and employee participation
• Worksite analysis and hazard identification
• Hazard prevention and control
• Safety and health training
• Recordkeeping and program evaluation

This kit is the training element. It supports the General Duty Clause obligation and gives you the quiz, sign-in sheet and certificate to document that the training happened. It is not an OSHA certification, and no such certification exists for workplace violence.

State Workplace Violence Training Laws

Some states go further than OSHA. California’s Labor Code section 6401.9 (Senate Bill 553) has required most California employers to keep a written workplace violence prevention plan and train employees on it since July 1, 2024, with refresher training every year; that program is covered by our California workplace violence training kit, and the supervisor version by the California manager workplace violence training kit. New York’s Retail Worker Safety Act requires retail employers with ten or more employees to adopt a violence prevention policy and train workers. Several states also have healthcare-specific workplace violence laws; for hospitals, clinics and long-term care see our workplace violence training for healthcare kit.

How Often to Train

OSHA sets no federal interval for workplace violence training. Train at hire and then repeat when one of these happens:

• Once a year as a refresher, which is what California and New York require and what the presenter’s guide is built for
• After a threat, assault or near miss at the facility
• When the company adopts or changes its workplace violence prevention plan
• When a job changes in a way that adds risk: cash handling, late shifts, working alone, or dealing with the public

Who Needs Workplace Violence Training

• Every employee in general industry, manufacturing, warehousing, office and retail settings, because most incidents start between people who work together
• Employees who handle cash, work late shifts, work alone or deal with the public (the Type I and Type II exposures)
• Supervisors and managers, who are the ones employees report threats to
• HR and safety staff building or refreshing the company’s prevention program
• New hires, as part of onboarding, so reporting habits form early

Which Workplace Violence Kit Do You Need?

This kit is the general program for any employer in any state. California employers with a Labor Code 6401.9 plan should use the California workplace violence training kit for employees and the California manager version for supervisors. Hospitals and clinics should use the healthcare workplace violence training kit. For the emergency-response layer see our active shooter training kit; for the everyday access-control layer see workplace security training; and for the skills that keep a disagreement from becoming a threat in the first place, see conflict resolution training.