Cal/OSHA Seeks Comment Workplace Violence Prevention Regulation Discussion Draft
Cal/OSHA is working on an update to the 2023 legislation that introduced a new requirement for employers in California to develop and implement a workplace violence prevention plan. Senate Bill 553, Workplace Violence Prevention in General Industry, was signed into law on September 30, 2023, and took effect on July 1, 2024. The legislation requires employers to develop, implement, and maintain a Workplace Violence Prevention Plan, the main components of which are:
- Prohibiting employee retaliation
- Accepting and responding to reports of workplace violence
- Providing employee workplace violence training and communication
- Emergency response procedures
- Conducting workplace violence hazard assessments
- Maintaining a Violent Incident Log
The legislation was introduced in response to an increase in workplace violence, which across the United States, affects almost 2 million workers each year. In 2021, in California alone, there were 57 employee deaths from workplace violence. A summary of the current requirements has been published in a Cal/OSHA fact sheet.
The legislation required Cal/OSHA to develop a Workplace Violence Prevention Regulation, which must be presented to the Board ahead of the December 31, 2025, deadline. The regulation must be adopted by December 31, 2026, when it will be a requirement for Cal/OSHA compliance. There are several exceptions to the regulation, including healthcare facilities.
On July 15, 2024, a draft of the regulation was released, and comments were accepted until September 3, 2024. The draft regulation detailed the administrative controls that California employers are required to implement to eliminate or minimize employee exposure to workplace violence hazards. They include “engineering controls” such as access controls to employee areas, enclosed workstations with shatter-resistant glass, escape routes, separate rooms for high-risk persons, lighting in dark areas, the removal of sight barriers, personal and workplace alarms, and video monitoring systems.
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Proposed work practice controls for employers include ensuring adequate staffing levels are maintained, employing dedicated security personnel, measures to alert employees about security threat details, procedures for preventing unauthorized firearms and weapons in the workplace, and employee training, including workplace violence prevention methods and procedures to follow in the event of a workplace violence incident. The draft regulation allowed employers to choose the most appropriate controls for their workplaces.
After reviewing comments, Cal/OSHA released a discussion draft of the Workplace Violence Prevention Regulation on May 13, 2025. The discussion draft includes several amendments, one of the most notable of which is the elimination of the requirement that prohibited employers from requiring employees to confront individuals suspected of crimes or workplace violence incidents. Only dedicated security personnel were allowed to confront individuals suspected of a crime or workplace violence.
The discussion draft expands coverage to include security services, janitorial services, and domestic workers, including workplaces that are open to the public. Cal/OSHA has also clarified the applicability thresholds, which are now based on total headcount (10 employees or more) rather than staffing levels at any given time. The discussion draft also makes it clear that not all of the suggested engineering controls and work practice controls must be implemented by employers.
Other notable changes include a new definition for authorized employee representative, which are permitted to request records such as violent incident logs, employee training documentation, and hazard identification records. Employers must also provide a non-supervisory reporting channel for concerns about Type 3 workplace violence, which includes violence against an employee by another employee, supervisor, or manager.
The definition or workplace violence has also been expanded to include the crime of stalking that occurs at a place of employment or in connection with a place of employment which has been brought to the attention of an employer, or that employers should otherwise be reasonably aware of, and examples have been included of workplace violence hazards.
Cal/OSHA is seeking comments on the discussion draft by July 14, 2025, after which an advisory committee meeting will be held, with the final regulation due by the end of the year.
