Frequently asked questions

Usually, but check the law's specific exemptions before relying on that answer. The small-worksite exemption only covers a site where fewer than 10 employees are present at any given time AND the site is not accessible to the public; it still needs a general Injury & Illness Prevention Program. Separate exemptions also apply in limited telework, healthcare, corrections, and law-enforcement settings. Confirm your facts against Cal/OSHA's FAQ.

Yes. The plan and training are required regardless of your history, and your violent incident log process should be ready for the first time something happens. Think of it like a fire extinguisher — the requirement doesn't wait for a fire. The good news: with no incident history, compliance is mostly a documentation exercise.

Most commonly: an employee complaint (current or former), a reported serious injury, a referral from another agency or police report, or a programmed inspection in a targeted industry. You generally won't get advance notice. This is why "get compliant before anything happens" is the whole game — by the time an inspector arrives, the records either exist or they don't.

Cal/OSHA citations for SB 553 violations follow the standard penalty structure: at 2026 levels, general and regulatory violations up to $16,285 each, serious violations up to $25,000, and willful or repeat violations up to $162,851 (amounts adjust most years). Missing plan, missing training, and missing log can each be cited separately, so a business with nothing in place can face several citations at once. The final amount depends on the classification and any applicable adjustment rules.

A template is a fine starting point — Cal/OSHA publishes a free model plan. But the law requires the plan to be specific to your workplace and developed with employee involvement. Inspectors specifically look for unedited templates with blanks still in them. Fill it in for your actual business, hold the team meeting, run the training, and date everything.

Broader than you'd think: any act or threat of physical force against an employee that results in, or has a high likelihood of resulting in, injury or psychological trauma — including threatening remarks and incidents involving weapons, regardless of injury. A customer screaming threats at your cashier belongs in the log even if no one was touched. It does not include lawful acts of self-defense, or minor verbal rudeness with no threat of force.

Potentially, yes. If the person shows up at the workplace or targets the employee there, it becomes "Type 4" workplace violence under the law — so treat the report seriously now, before it gets that far. Practical steps: document what the employee tells you, consider schedule/location adjustments, alert front-desk or security staff to the specific concern, and know that SB 553 also allows employers (and, since 2025, unions) to seek a workplace violence restraining order on an employee's behalf. An attorney can get a temporary order in place quickly.

No. Healthcare facilities have been covered by a separate, stricter Cal/OSHA standard (§3342) since 2017 and are exempt from SB 553 because they're already regulated. SB 553 extended similar duties to nearly everyone else — retail, restaurants, offices, warehouses, manufacturing, services.

Yes — the current requirements come straight from the statute, and Cal/OSHA is turning them into a formal regulation, which the Standards Board must adopt by December 31, 2026. The core duties (plan, training, log, records) won't go away; if anything, details get more specific and enforcement attention increases. Getting compliant now means small adjustments later instead of starting from zero under a stricter rule.