Short answer: Behavioral threat assessment is a structured, fact-based process in which a trained team (typically HR, legal, security, and, when appropriate, mental health and law enforcement) identifies concerning behavior, evaluates whether a person is moving toward violence, and builds a plan to manage the situation. It focuses on what a person is doing, not who they are, and it works best when it starts early. For San Diego employers, it turns a California workplace violence prevention plan from a document into a working process.
After almost every serious workplace incident, someone says the same thing: “Looking back, there were signs.”
Usually that’s true. The problem is rarely that nobody noticed. It’s that nobody knew what to do with what they noticed. A coworker made a comment that felt off. A manager sensed something had changed. An employee mentioned a conflict that kept getting worse. Each person assumed someone else was handling it.
Behavioral threat assessment exists to close that gap.
What Behavioral Threat Assessment Actually Is
It is a defined process for answering one question: Is this person on a path toward violence, and if so, what do we do about it?
The approach was developed and refined through decades of work by threat assessment professionals, including the research of the U.S. Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center. A consistent theme in that work is that targeted violence is typically a process rather than a sudden event, and that concerning behavior is often visible to other people before harm occurs.
It is not a hunch, a personality screening, or a way to remove difficult employees. It is a disciplined review of observable behavior, applied the same way every time.
Behavior, Not Profile
Good threat assessment never relies on a profile. There is no reliable demographic or personality “type” of person who commits workplace violence, and a process built on stereotypes will miss real threats while flagging innocent people.
Instead, the team looks at behavior: what the person has said and done, what is driving it, what has changed recently, and whether there is movement toward a plan.
The Warning Signs Worth Reporting
No single item below means someone is dangerous. A pattern, or a sharp change, is what matters.
- Direct or veiled threats, including “jokes” about hurting people
- A fixation on a specific coworker, supervisor, or former colleague
- An intense, escalating grievance, especially after discipline, demotion, or termination
- Interest in weapons or past attacks that is out of step with the person’s normal behavior
- Dramatic changes in behavior, appearance, attendance, or performance
- Statements of hopelessness, or of having “nothing left to lose”
- Intimidating, stalking, or harassing behavior, on or off the job
- Domestic conflict that is spilling into the workplace
The most important rule for employees and managers: report the behavior. Do not diagnose it.
How the Process Works
- Receive the report. Employees and managers need a clear, trusted way to raise concerns, and they need to know someone will act on them.
- Triage fast. The team decides whether there is an immediate danger. If there is, call 911. If not, the case moves into structured review.
- Gather information. The team collects facts from multiple sources: supervisors, HR records, prior incidents, and, where lawful and appropriate, publicly available information. One person’s account is never the whole picture.
- Assess the risk. The team evaluates the person’s behavior, stressors, grievances, access, and any signs of planning or preparation, then decides how concerned to be.
- Manage and monitor. The response is tailored to the case: a supportive conversation, an employee assistance referral, a workplace safety adjustment, an access change, coordination with law enforcement, or a combination. Then the team keeps watching, because situations change.
Most cases end well, and not with a termination. Many resolve because someone intervened early with support instead of waiting for a crisis.
Who Belongs on the Team
A threat assessment team is multidisciplinary by design, because no single department sees the whole picture:
- Human resources, for employment history, conduct, and policy
- Legal counsel, for privacy, discrimination, and employment law
- Security, for risk evaluation and physical protective measures
- Mental health or employee assistance professionals, for context and support options
- Law enforcement liaison, for situations that cross into criminal conduct
Smaller companies often don’t have all of these in-house. An outside consultant can fill the gaps and bring something internal teams struggle to provide: objectivity.
Where California’s SB 553 Fits
Since July 1, 2024, nearly every California employer has been required to maintain a written workplace violence prevention plan, keep a violent incident log, and train employees. Cal/OSHA enforces the requirement and provides guidance and a model plan for general industry.
SB 553 does not use the phrase “behavioral threat assessment.” But a plan that says how to report a concern and has no process for evaluating that concern is thin on substance. A threat assessment process is what makes your plan work when a real situation lands on someone’s desk. It is also worth confirming that your plan, your training, and your actual practice all say the same thing.
What This Looks Like for San Diego Employers
San Diego’s economy is varied: life sciences and biotech, defense and military contractors, technology, healthcare, hospitality, and higher education. Each carries different risk factors.
- Biotech and tech employers often have high-pressure, high-turnover environments where grievances can build quietly, and they frequently have valuable research and executives who attract attention.
- Defense and government-adjacent employers face heightened concerns around insider risk and access to sensitive areas.
- Hospitality and retail employers deal with public-facing risks, including customers and former employees who return to the property.
- Employers with multiple sites across the county often find that one location handles concerns well while another has no process at all.
In every case, the question is the same: when someone raises a concern, does your organization know what happens next?
Mistakes I See Repeatedly
- Waiting for a “credible” threat. By the time a threat is obvious, options have narrowed.
- Treating it as an HR issue only. HR is essential, but not sufficient on its own.
- Skipping the follow-up. Many cases involve people who remain at the company or in the community. A termination does not end the risk if nobody manages the aftermath.
- No documentation. Unrecorded decisions are impossible to defend or learn from.
- A policy nobody has practiced. A plan that hasn’t been tested on a realistic scenario will fail the first time it matters.
If your company has recently grown, our guide to building a corporate security program as you scale explains where threat assessment fits alongside physical security, access control, and incident response. And if you’re unsure whether it’s time to bring in outside help, our piece on when a company should hire a security consultant lays out the clear triggers. A corporate office security audit is a useful companion step, since behavior and physical vulnerabilities often show up together.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is behavioral threat assessment in the workplace? It is a structured process for identifying concerning behavior, evaluating whether a person may be moving toward violence, and managing the situation before harm occurs.
Is behavioral threat assessment required in California? SB 553 requires a workplace violence prevention plan, incident log, and training for most employers. It does not name threat assessment specifically, but the process helps make those requirements work in practice.
Does a threat assessment mean the employee will be fired? No. Many cases are resolved through support, monitoring, or workplace adjustments. The goal is safety, not punishment.
Can small businesses do this? Yes. A small team, or one trusted internal lead supported by an outside consultant, can run a sound process.
What should a manager do if an employee makes a threat? If there is immediate danger, call 911. Otherwise, document exactly what was said and done, report it to HR or security right away, and avoid confronting the person alone.
The Bottom Line
You can’t predict every incident. You can build an organization where concerns get reported, reviewed fairly, and handled early, which is where prevention actually happens.
For more information on setting up a behavioral threat assessment process for your San Diego organization, book an appointment with Jeffrey Miller Consulting. If you’d like a broader look at your facility, people, and procedures, start with a Risk & Vulnerability Assessment.