Last year, California’s Governor signed Senate Bill (SB) 553, which requires all employers to establish, implement, and maintain an effective Workplace Violence Prevention Plan (WVPP). The law takes effect on July 1, 2024. Cal/OSHA is responsible for enforcing the requirements of SB 553, now codified at California Labor Code Section 6401.9.

Last Friday, Cal/OSHA published a Model WVPP. Similar to its model Injury and Illness Prevention Plan (IIPP) and COVID-19 Prevention policy, the Model WVPP is designed to assist employers in drafting their own plans. Employers are not required to use Cal/OSHA’s model but may use it as a template. The Model WVPP contains numerous questions and examples for employers to consider as they assess the risks in their own workplaces and “fill in the blanks” of the template accordingly.

Cal/OSHA also published a Fact Sheet for Employers on the requirements. The Fact Sheet provides an overview of the requirements of:

• Creating a workplace violence prevention plan
• Violent incident log requirements
• Employer responsibilities with workplace violence recordkeeping
• Training employees on workplace violence