July 1, 2025, marked the one-year anniversary of SB 553, California’s comprehensive workplace violence prevention law, which means employers must ensure that they complete the law’s annual requirements, including reviewing their workplace violence prevention plans and retraining their employees.
Prior to the signing of SB 553, effective July 1, 2024, many employers had workplace violence prevention policies and procedures in place, but they were optional for most employers. Plans varied in scope and depth, and they may not have been updated regularly.
But — for the past year — workplace violence prevention is no longer optional. It’s mandatory for most California employers and brings substantial compliance obligations, including:
- Establishing, implementing and maintaining a written workplace violence prevention plan specific to employers’ worksites;
- Identifying, evaluating and correcting/mitigating workplace violence hazards/risks;
- Training employees on the workplace violence prevention plan and related procedures;
- Investigating and responding to workplace violence incidents;
- Utilizing a violent incident log for each instance of workplace violence involving their employees; and
- Retaining various workplace violence records and making them available to employees and the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) upon request.
Initial plan-building, training and other compliance efforts took a significant amount of time and energy for employers last year. However, it’s important to remember that these are not one-time obligations. Employers have continuous responsibilities under the law. Among these are annual requirements for employers to:
- Review their workplace violence prevention plans and update them if necessary.
- Train/retrain their employees on their workplace violence prevention plan, even if the plan isn’t updated.
As we pass the one-year mark on SB 553, employers who have not completed their annual workplace violence prevention plan review and training should do so immediately. For more information about the law and its annual requirements, please visit CalChamber’s free Workplace Violence Prevention for California Employers white paper.
James W. Ward, Employment Law Subject Matter Expert/Legal Writer and Editor
CalChamber members can read more about California Workplace Violence Prevention Standards in the HR Library. Not a member? Learn how to power your business with a CalChamber membership
