California's SB 553: A Basic Compliance Checklist

‍What is SB 553?

Effective July 1 2024, SB 553 mandates that California employers implement measures to prevent workplace violence. This includes creating prevention plans, maintaining records, and conducting employee training.

The law applies to all California employers, employees, and workplaces except:

• Workplaces that have fewer than 10 employees on-site at a time and are not open to the public
• Employees who telework from a location of their choice that is not under the employer’s control (e.g., remote employees who work from their home or a coworking space of their choice)
• Certain healthcare facilities and other public entity employers that are covered under different regulations

What should I do to be compliant?

Here’s a checklist to help you navigate the new law:

• Develop a comprehensive violence prevention plan
  • Identify and evaluate hazards that could lead to workplace violence.
  • Implement incident reporting and investigation processes.
  • Conduct routine assessments to identify new or previously unrecognized workplace violence hazards. Involve employees in the evaluation process and update the prevention plan as necessary.
    
• Implement a violent incident log and investigation process
  • Establish a procedure for timely and confidential reporting of workplace violence incidents. An anonymous reporting tool is suggested to ensure that incidents are recorded as thoroughly as possible.
  • When a violent incident report is received, the investigator must amend the log entry with consequences and steps taken as a result of the report. Protect personal identifying information of employees involved in incidents and limit violent incident log access to authorized personnel only.

• Conduct initial and annual training
  • Conduct an initial comprehensive training on the workplace violence prevention plan. Cover how to recognize, respond to, and report incidents of workplace violence.
  • Plan to conduct training on workplace violence prevention every year. Provide additional training whenever a new hazard is identified or changes are made to the plan. You can tailor training sessions to be relevant to specific workforce needs and roles.
  • Training must be interactive, with the opportunity to ask questions to someone familiar with the employer’s plan.
  • Maintain training records of all employee training sessions and ensure employees sign an acknowledgment of training completion.
    

• Make Records Available Upon Request
  • Make all relevant records (such as workplace violence prevention plan, training records, and violent incident log) available to authorized employees and representatives, as well as to the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, upon request.

Spot can help!

Spot can automate the violent incident log and investigation process. Spot is designed to help employees talk through incidents in as much detail as possible and to walk you through the required steps when you receive a violent incident report.

Contact us at [email protected] or fill out this contact form.