New York State Labor Law Section 27-b requires public employers, including school districts, to develop and implement programs to prevent and minimize workplace violence , thereby enhancing the safety of public employees.

A Workplace Violence Prevention Program is designed to tackle potential instances of workplace violence, mitigate their occurrence, and outline protocols for addressing such incidents. The objectives of this program include:

• Diminishing the likelihood of threats or acts of violence in the workplace.

• Ensuring prompt and serious handling of any incident, complaint, or report related to workplace violence.

The links below are provided for district employees to access resources related to Workplace Violence Prevention in the Schenectady City School District.

Workplace violence is defined as any physical assault or act of aggressive behavior occurring where a public employee performs any work-related duty in the course of their employment. That includes but is not limited to an attempt or threat, whether verbal or physical, to inflict physical injury upon an employee; any intentional display of force which would give an employee reason to fear or expect bodily harm; intentional and wrongful physical contact with a person without his or her consent that entails some injury; or stalking an employee with the intent of causing fear of material harm to the physical safety and health of such employee when such stalking has arisen through and in the course of employment.

Training will be provided at the time of each employee’s initial assignment and annually thereafter.

Upon completion of the workplace violence prevention program all employees will be provided information and training on:

1. Requirements of the regulation (12NYCRR Part 800.6)

2. Risk factors specific to the workplace that were identified in the risk evaluation and determination (Step 2 of the How to Comply Guide)

3. Measures that employees can take to protect themselves from the identified risks including specific procedures that the employer has implemented such as

• Incident alert and notification procedures

• Appropriate work practices

• Emergency procedures

• Use of security alarms and other devices

4. Procedures to report incidents of workplace violence

5. Location of the written workplace program and how to obtain a copy

Please reach out to the Office of Human Resources for any questions related to Workplace Violence.

Human Resources

HR@schenectadyschools.org

(518)370-8100 Option 3