CA's Workplace Violence Law 2 Years On. Are You Exposed?
On July 1, 2026 it will be 2 years since California employers were required to establish, implement, and maintain an effective workplace violence prevention plan.
Based upon my discussions with employers, more than a few employers could be facing two years of 5 figure fines from Cal/OSHA for not complying with the law’s requirements.
Some employers simply don’t know about the law and its requirements. Other employers mistakenly assume that they’re exempt from the law because they have fewer than 10 employees.
That’s a costly assumption to make. 5 figures of regulatory fines x 2 years = a lot of outgoing resources. And that’s just for not having a prevention plan that’s specific to the safety hazards your employees face.
If you have an incident, it’s going to cost a whole lot more.
But it’s not too late to make sure you’re on top of things.
Cal/OSHA is still working on finalizing the law’s regulations through public input, and that work needs to be completed this year.
So now’s the time to get that done—and for employers who have created a prevention plan—it’s time to revisit your plan and perform the annual requirements under the law like conducting safety hazard assessments and training.
In this piece we’ll cover in plan language where you need to be to protect your organization and your employees.
If Cal/OSHA knocked on your door next month, could you show a working violence prevention plan, real training, and incident documentation?
Schedule your free 15-minute workplace violence prevention compliance and safety snapshot. We’ll do a quick walk‑through of how you’d look under that kind of scrutiny. And if you prefer email to a call, send me an email with a bit about your organization and 15-minute snapshot in the subject line and I’ll send you some questions to help you assess where you’re at.
In plain language here’s what’s required of employers to create, implement, and annually maintain your workplace violence prevention plan.
Who’s covered under the law: As an employee you’re covered by the law unless you telework from a place of your choosing that is not under the control of your employer. If you’re an employer you’re covered by the law unless your workplace is NOT accessible to the public, AND you have fewer than 10 employees, AND you already have a general workplace safety plan in place.
Required elements of the prevention plan: A workplace violence prevention plan is not the same as a workplace violence prevention policy. Here’s what you need to do comply with the law:
- Your plan must be in writing, and SPECIFIC to the safety hazards your employees face, and corrective measures that work for ALL of your employees.
- Your plan creation must actively involve your employees in identifying, evaluating, and correcting workplace violence hazards, in designing and implementing training, and in reporting and investigating workplace violence incidents.
- You must have a complaint and investigation process that employees are aware of, and you must have a way to ensure compliance with every aspect of the plan.
- You must have procedures for employees and your management team to follow when an incident occurs.
- You must provide a variety of training including on the elements of the prevention plan, and on strategies for your employees to avoid physical harm.
- You must conduct ongoing assessments of safety hazards and how to abate them, and any time a new safety hazard is identified, and provide training on abatement processes.
- You must establish post incident responses, including debriefing and investigation, and make corrections to your plan and training based upon the results of your post incident response.
- Annually, or if there’s an incident, you must revisit your plan, and review it for effectiveness, including to review hazards assessments and abatement for those hazards, and identify any new or previously unknown hazards that developed, and incorporate them into your prevention plan.
Violent Incident Log: You must create and use a violent incident log to document information surrounding any incidents that occur, including the source type for the incident, the circumstances surrounding the incident, and the consequences of the incident. You must also identify ways to protect the victim of the incident from further harm.
Trainings: Once your plan is created, you must provide employee training on the different elements of the plan, and you must also provide training on strategies your employees can use to avoid physical harm from violence. And you must provide specific training to your employees on any new safety hazards that arise after the plan was initially created. You must then repeat this training annually, and following any workplace violence incidents that occur.
There you have it. A plan language summary of what you need to do to comply with California’s workplace violence prevention law in time for its two year anniversary.
If you’re responsible for safety or compliance in a small California organization, the fastest next step is a short, free 15‑minute snapshot call. We’ll pressure‑test how you’d look if a regulator or plaintiff’s attorney asked to see your plan tomorrow, and flag your top risks.
