New York Retailers Must Document Workplace Violence Prevention Plans, Add Silent Alarms

Large retailers in New York must add silent alarms to stores after Governor Kathy Hochul signed a new law on 5 September aimed at boosting safety protections for retail workers.

The New York Retail Worker Safety Act (RWSA) was passed by the state assembly in June, and it mandates that retailers adhere to new requirements, such as taking specific actions around evaluating risks, improving visibility, and setting up written workplace violence prevention policies.

Retailers with 10 or more employees in the state must adopt a workplace violence prevention plan and maintain records of violent incidents for at least three years. Retailers with 500 or more employees nationwide must install silent alarms in easily accessibly locations or provide wearable or smartphone-based alarm devices to alert emergency authorities of trouble. The RWSA will go into effect after 180 days, and retailers have until 1 January 2027 to adhere to the silent alarm provision.

The legislation echoes California’s recently enacted SB 553, but the California law does not mandate silent alarms or panic buttons and other specific physical safety measures.

In New York City alone, there have been at least 40,900 complaints related to retail theft so far in 2024—a 2.7 percent increase from 2023, according to the New York Police Department. Some retailers have closed locations in the state, citing violence against employees and rising retail theft as primary reasons, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, retailers and their employees are increasingly concerned about threats. The Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union found that more than 80 percent of survey respondents said they are worried about an active shooter coming to their workplace, and nearly two-thirds have been harassed or felt intimidated by a customer, coworker, or manager in the last year, Retail Dive reported. Nearly three-quarters of survey respondents said they would feel safer if they received regular training on how to be safe at work, including understanding risks, how to reduce individual risks, and what to do if violence occurs.

Under the RWSA, employers must evaluate workplaces for situations or factors that could put retail employees at risk of violence, including working late hours, exchanging money with the public, working alone, uncontrolled public access to the workplace, and areas of previous security problems. Employers must develop a written workplace violence prevention policy including a list of risk factors and the methods the employer will use to prevent incidents of workplace violence (the law calls out some specific examples, including improving external lighting, using drop safes to minimize cash on hand, providing employee training, and making high-risk areas more visible). The written policy must be made available upon request to employees, their designated representatives, and the NY Labor Department.

Employees must also be given training around workplace violence, including de-escalation tactics, active shooter drills, and how to use security alarms, panic buttons, and other emergency devices. Training must be conducted in English and the primary languages spoken by retail employees in the workplace. Employees must receive training upon their hiring and then annually.

In certain circumstances—such as repeated violent incidents—the law also mandates that retailers have a security guard present during all open hours.