EXPLAINER
California’s Workplace Violence Prevention Law (SB 553), in plain English
Last reviewed: June 2026 — already in force and actively enforced; confirm specifics with Cal/OSHA and counsel.
Most workplace-safety rules ask you to be ready for a rare catastrophe. California’s is different: it’s law today, it covers nearly every employer in the state, and non-compliance carries real penalties. Here’s what it requires, who it covers, and where Share911 genuinely helps. We’ve linked the official source, because the plan and the obligations are yours — this is a summary, not legal advice.
What it is
Senate Bill 553 — the Workplace Violence Prevention Act, codified in California Labor Code Section 6401.9 — took effect July 1, 2024. It requires California employers to build and maintain a Workplace Violence Prevention Plan (WVPP), train their employees, and keep a log of workplace-violence incidents. The plan can stand alone or be folded into an existing Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP), and it applies regardless of union status.
Who it covers
It applies to nearly all California employers, employees, places of employment, and employer-provided housing — with six exemptions. The ones most worth knowing: employers with fewer than ten employees whose workplace isn’t open to the public (and who already have a compliant IIPP), and remote employees working from a location of their choosing outside the employer’s control.
Good to know: California healthcare facilities are generally covered by the state’s separate healthcare-specific workplace-violence standard, not SB 553. So this law is the one for general workplaces — offices, retail, warehouses, hospitality, manufacturing — while hospitals follow their own rule. Confirm which applies to you.
What counts as “workplace violence”
Any act or threat of violence at the workplace — physical force, firearm incidents, and threats — sorted into four types: violence from outsiders, from clients or customers, between employees, and from someone with a personal relationship to an employee. Lawful self-defense is excluded.
What employers must do
The plan and the program around it have to cover, at minimum:
Develop or update a WVPP — using Cal/OSHA’s model plan or a customized version, tailored to your specific work areas and hazards.
Engage employees — involve the people most exposed to violence in building and reviewing the plan.
Train your people — initial and ongoing training on how to recognize, report, and respond to workplace violence.
Have procedures to report and respond — including how employees raise an alarm and how others are alerted when an incident is unfolding.
Keep records and a violent incident log — documenting hazards, training, and every incident, kept for the required retention periods.
Review and revise — especially after an incident or when the plan falls short.
Coordinate in multi-employer settings — shared training, incident reporting, and logging where more than one employer shares a site.
The penalties
Cal/OSHA enforces it. Serious violations can reach $25,000; willful violations can reach $158,727. This is a live compliance obligation, not a future one.
Where Share911 fits
SB 553 is your legal duty — the plan, the training, the records are the employer’s responsibility. Share911 isn’t a compliance product and won’t make you “SB 553 compliant” on its own. What it does is operationalize three of the plan’s hardest, most time-critical elements:
Report. The plan must give employees a way to report threats and incidents and to summon help in an emergency. Share911 is that way — fast, discreet, from wherever they’re standing, without hunting for a number.
Respond and alert. A plan on paper only works if people are told when something is happening. Share911 alerts the right people — security, leadership, colleagues nearby, and the responding agencies — in the same moment, scaled to who’s close. That’s the response element, made real.
Record. Every alert, action, and communication is captured in Share911’s after-action report — a detailed, timestamped chronological record of the incident. That supports the recordkeeping the law requires; confirm the report captures the specific fields your statutory violent-incident log needs.
Share911 won’t write your WVPP or deliver your training. But for the part of the plan that has to work in seconds — getting help and getting everyone told — it’s how the procedure actually happens.
Beyond California
California has one of the broadest general-industry workplace-violence laws, but it isn’t alone. A federal Joint Commission standard now reaches accredited hospitals, and a growing list of states are adding their own requirements. If you operate across state lines, treat California as the leading edge, not the exception.
Common questions
What counts as “workplace violence” under SB 553?
Any act or threat of violence at work, sorted into four types: Type 1 (someone with no legitimate business there, e.g. a robbery), Type 2 (a customer, client, patient, student or visitor), Type 3 (a current or former co-worker or manager), and Type 4 (someone with a personal relationship to an employee).
Under SB 553, what is the “log”?
The violent incident log — a record of every workplace-violence incident. Each entry notes what happened, the consequences, a description of the people involved, and the type of violence, with no personal identifying information. You keep it for at least five years.
How long must SB 553 records be kept?
Five years for violent incident logs and for records of hazard identification, evaluation and correction. One year for training records.
What must SB 553 training cover?
Your prevention plan, how to report incidents safely, the workplace-violence risks specific to each job, and how to prevent and respond to violence. It’s interactive, given when the plan launches, at least annually after that, and whenever a new hazard appears.
When did SB 553 take effect?
1 July 2024. It’s in force and actively enforced by Cal/OSHA.
Verify the requirements
This is a plain-English summary, not legal advice. The authoritative materials:
Cal/OSHA — the model WVPP and the regulation (search “workplace violence prevention”).
The statute — California Labor Code Section 6401.9 (SB 553).
Your employment counsel — for how the law applies to your specific operations.
Share911 supports your emergency response. It does not replace it. In an emergency, always call 911.