John Ho was quoted in an Inside OSHA article discussing new guidance from New York’s Department of Labor to help employers comply with the Retail Worker Safety Act, including training, policy distribution, and emergency response requirements.

“First, the policy needs to be distributed to employees when they are first hired and once a year after that. Next, it clarifies that an employer cannot simply adopt the model policy wholesale as it requires work-site specific assessment of risk factors,” John stated. Ho further notes the law “only covers defined ‘retail employees’ as opposed to others such as marketing and administrative but ‘encourages’ employers to take appropriate steps to protect all employees.” He also positions New York’s law as “another recent example of states and local municipalities taking affirmative legislative measures to address workplace violence in the absence of a federal OSHA standard.” Despite these clarifications, unresolved questions remain, especially regarding active shooter training and the replacement of 911-linked panic buttons with silent response buttons alerting internal staff.

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