Workplace Violence Prevention

Responsible Executive	Vice Chancellor, Administration
Responsible Office	Office of Environment, Health & Safety
Contact	WPVP@berkeley.edu

Issued	December 1, 2010
Effective	December 1, 2010
Revised	January 1, 2026
Supersedes	n/a
Next Review	January 1, 2031

I. Policy Summary

The University of California, Berkeley is committed to promoting and maintaining a safe environment for its employees.

Violence, and threats of violence, are prohibited in the University of California, Berkeley workplace. Anyone who observes such behavior or believes a credible threat of such behavior exists, or is a victim of such conduct, is encouraged to immediately report it to the University. Managers and supervisors who observe or learn of such conduct are required to report it to the University.

UC Berkeley has established, implemented, and maintains a Workplace Violence Prevention (WPVP) Plan. This Plan is available to all employees and applies to and is in effect at all times in every unit, service, and operation. The plan is available at https://ehs.berkeley.edu/uc-berkeley-workplace-violence-prevention.

II. Definitions

Workplace: any location owned, leased, or rented by The Regents of the University of California on behalf of the University of California, Berkeley, or any location where a University employee is acting in the course and scope of employment. This includes, but is not limited to, buildings, grounds, and surrounding perimeters, including parking lots, field locations, classrooms, and residence halls. It also includes vehicles when those vehicles are used for University business. It does not include work locations of employees who telework from a location of their choosing that is outside UC’s control.
Workplace violence: any act of violence or threat of violence that occurs in a place of employment. Workplace violence includes, but is not limited to, the following:
1. The threat or use of physical force against an employee that results in, or has a high likelihood of resulting in, injury, psychological trauma, or stress, regardless of whether the employee sustains an injury.
2. An incident involving a threat or use of a firearm or other dangerous weapon, including the use of common objects as weapons, regardless of whether the employee sustains an injury.
3. Any violent act that results in property damage.
4. The following four workplace violence types:
  1. (I) “Type 1 violence,” which means workplace violence committed by a person who has no legitimate business at the worksite, and includes violent acts by anyone who enters the workplace or approaches workers with the intent to commit a crime.
  2. (II) “Type 2 violence,” which means workplace violence directed at employees by customers, clients, patients, students, inmates, or visitors.
  3. (III) “Type 3 violence,” which means workplace violence against an employee by a present or former employee, supervisor, or manager.
  4. (IV) “Type 4 violence,” which means workplace violence committed in the workplace by a person who does not work there, but has or is known to have had a personal relationship with an employee.

Workplace violence does not include lawful acts of self-defense or defense of others.

Threat of violence: any verbal or written statement, including, but not limited to, texts, electronic messages, social media messages, or other online posts, or any behavioral or physical conduct, that conveys an intent, or that is reasonably perceived to convey an intent, to cause physical harm or to place someone in fear of physical harm, and that serves no legitimate purpose.
Threat of workplace violence: a threat of violence that is directed towards a university employee in their workplace or delivered via their university email account or telephone, or which states an intent to commit violence against the employee at the employee’s workplace.
Retaliation: an adverse action against a person based on their report or other disclosure of alleged occurrence of workplace violence to a University employee, or their participation in, refusal to participate in, or assistance with the investigation, reporting, or other processes provided for in this Policy.

III. Scope of Policy

This policy applies to all UC Berkeley employees, including faculty, staff, postdoctoral scholars, and graduate and undergraduate student employees. It covers all UC Berkeley work locations, including field stations.

The policy does not apply to locations from which employees choose to work remotely that are outside UC’s control.

IV. Policy

The purpose of this policy is to codify the University’s commitment to the safety and security of all employees at campus workplaces, and is consistent with California statutes.
This policy:
1. Prohibits workplace violence and threats of workplace violence, as defined above.
2. Requires managers and supervisors to report workplace violence, or the threat of workplace violence, to the appropriate office, as defined below.
3. Prohibits retaliation to the fullest extent possible against employees who make reports of workplace violence.
4. Requires the campus to maintain a workplace violence prevention plan, including education for employees on how to identify and avoid workplace violence, and a workplace hazard inspection and assessment process.
5. Requires the campus to maintain a workplace violent incident log.

V. Procedures

Procedures for reporting workplace violence or the threat of workplace violence.
1. In an emergency, or to report violence in progress, call 911 or 510-642-3333 (UCPD emergency line).
2. To report a credible threat of violence: call 510-642-6760 (UCPD non-emergency line).
3. To report past incidents of workplace violence, non-urgent threats of workplace violence, or retaliation for having made a report of workplace violence or having participated in an investigation of workplace violence: submit an ELR HR Service Hub ticket via the Employee & Labor Relations website.
4. To report workplace violence (or threats of workplace violence) that include sexual violence or involve harassment of a member of a protected category: submit an online report or contact the Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination (OPHD) at 510-643-7985 or ask_ophd@berkeley.edu
Procedures for submitting incident reports to the Workplace Violence Reporting Portal for inclusion in the workplace violence incident log
1. Offices (UCPD, OPHD, ELR) receiving reports involving workplace violence shall notify EH&S via the online Workplace Violence Reporting Portal or WPVP@berkeley.edu
2. Individuals may also submit information about workplace violence to the Workplace Violence Reporting Portal or WPVP@berkeley.edu

VI. Responsibilities

Managers and Supervisors
1. Managers and supervisors who receive a report of workplace violence, or the threat of workplace violence, must immediately submit the report to the applicable office (see section V.A).
2. Managers and supervisors must ensure that their employees complete mandatory annual workplace violence prevention training.
3. In consultation with EHS and/or the building manager, as appropriate, managers and supervisors must ensure scheduled periodic workplace violence hazard inspections and assessments are completed, including after a workplace violence incident, and identified hazards are corrected in a timely manner.
Employees with reporting requirements under other policies
1. Reporting workplace violence to UCPD or the WPVP Portal is not necessarily sufficient to fulfill these other reporting obligations. For example, all employees who receive a report of workplace violence involving conduct prohibited under the UC Policy on SVSH are required to provide the information to OPHD, and Campus Security Authorities are required to notify the campus Clery coordinator if they learn of a Clery crime. Individuals should refer to the SVSH and Clery policies to understand their reporting obligations.
All employees
1. Employees who are injured as a result of workplace violence should report the injury through the Employee Injury and Illness Reporting Tool as they would for any other injury sustained in the course of work. Such reporting does not constitute a report of workplace violence; employees use their discretion to report incidents of workplace violence through means described in Section V.A.
2. All employees must complete annual workplace violence prevention training, including information about the workplace violence prevention plan.
OPHD, UCPD, ELR
1. Must ensure that reports containing allegations of workplace violence or threats of workplace violence are entered into the WPVP Portal (for inclusion in the Violent Incident Log).
Environment, Health and Safety
1. Maintain the Workplace Violence Prevention Plan, the Online Reporting Portal, and the Violent Incident Log.
2. Serve as the local point of contact for Workplace Violence Prevention questions, concerns, and training updates.
3. Conduct and document the annual review of the Workplace Violence Prevention Plan.
4. Ensure that any reports made directly by individuals to the Online Reporting Portal are referred to ELR, OPHD, UCPD, and/or Clery Coordinator, as appropriate and/or required by other campus or university policies.
5. Scrub personally identifiable information from the Violent Incident Log when a copy of the log is requested.
6. Serve as liaison to Cal/OSHA.

VII. Consequences of Policy Violations

Any individual found to be in violation of this policy may be subject to disciplinary action in accordance with applicable academic personnel or staff personnel policies, including collective bargaining agreements. Volunteers who are found to be in violation of this policy may be subject to termination of volunteer service.

VIII. Related Policies and Procedures

California Related Law:

UCOP Related Policies and Resources:

UC Berkeley Related Policies and Resources:

IX. Appendix

No items at this time.