California Workplace Violence Law / SB 553
Are you
compliant?
Under Labor Code 6401.9, most California employers are required to have a written Workplace Violence Prevention Plan, deliver training on it, and keep a Violent Incident Log. It has been enforceable since July 1, 2024. A handful of narrow exemptions exist. Most businesses that believe they qualify for one do not.
Until December 31, 2026, the statutory deadline for the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board to adopt the permanent general industry standard.
- Enforceable since July 1, 2024 The written plan, the training and the Violent Incident Log have all been required since this date. There is no grace period left to run, and no phase-in for smaller employers.
- Permanent standard due December 31, 2026 Cal/OSHA must adopt the permanent general industry standard by this date. It is expected to be more prescriptive than the statute, so plans written to the current text will need amendment.
Seven questions, no email required
Find out where you stand
Checked against the statute, including the exemptions. If you are exempt, this will say so. We would rather lose the lead than sell a plan to a business that does not need one.
The statute
What the law actually requires
Section 6401.9 lists thirteen things a written plan must contain. A plan missing any one of them is incomplete, and the training and records obligations sit on top of it. The plan may live as a stand-alone document or as its own section inside your Injury and Illness Prevention Program.
Names and titles of the people responsible for implementing the plan
Procedures to obtain the active involvement of employees and their representatives in developing and implementing the plan
Methods to coordinate implementation with other employers who share the workplace
Procedures to accept and respond to reports, and to prohibit retaliation against anyone who makes one
Procedures to ensure supervisory and non-supervisory employees comply with the plan
Procedures to communicate with employees about workplace violence matters
Emergency response procedures, including how to alert and evacuate
Procedures to develop and provide the required training
Procedures to identify and evaluate hazards, including periodic inspections, when the plan is established, after each incident, and whenever a new hazard comes to your attention
Procedures to correct workplace violence hazards in a timely manner
Post-incident response and investigation procedures
Procedures to review the plan's effectiveness and revise it, at least annually
Any further procedures or information required by the Division and the Standards Board
Training with live Q and A
When the plan is first established and annually after that. The statute requires an opportunity for interactive questions and answers with a person knowledgeable about your plan. A pre-recorded video and a downloadable slide deck do not provide that. Additional training is required whenever a new hazard appears or the plan changes.
Violent Incident Log
A record of every incident, recorded whether or not anyone was injured, kept without personal identifying information. It must be produced to an employee or their representative, at no cost, within 15 calendar days of a request.
Retention
Hazard identification, evaluation and correction records, the incident log, and investigation records are held five years. Training records are held one year and must name who trained, what was covered, and who attended.
Coverage is wider than most employers assume
The statute applies to all employers, employees, places of employment, and employer-provided housing. The exemptions are narrow and several are conditional on being in compliance with the Injury and Illness Prevention Program standard. A separate exemption covers employees teleworking from a location of their own choosing that you do not control, but that exempts those employees, not your other worksites.
The program
Three phases to a defensible file
A real sequence, not a menu. You cannot train people on a plan that does not exist, and a records file with no training in it proves the gap rather than closing it. Sold as one program by default.
The Written Plan
- A plan built for your operation covering all thirteen required elements
- A site walk and hazard evaluation, because a template cannot see your lobby, your lone night shift, or your parking lot
- Reporting and anti-retaliation procedures
- Emergency response, hazard correction, and post-incident investigation procedures
- Coordination procedures for shared worksites and vendors
- Your Violent Incident Log and the records system behind it
Training Delivered
- Delivered live, with real questions and answers, which is the cleanest way to evidence what the statute asks for
- Run per shift, at a time your people are already assembled
- A supervisor module on taking a report and escalating it
- Train the trainer, so you can onboard new hires without calling us
- The deck stays with you as the leave behind
- Attendance and training records built to the retention rule
The Audit-Ready File
- A readiness assessment against every element of the statute
- A gap register with owners, actions, and dates
- Your five year records system, assembled and indexed
- A one page inspection response protocol for whoever is at the front desk
- A 2027 readiness annex against the pending Cal/OSHA standard
We do not issue compliance certificates
Nobody can certify you compliant with Cal/OSHA. Not us, not a software vendor, not a law firm. Anyone selling you a certificate is selling a document with no standing in an inspection. What we deliver is a plan, training that meets the statute's interactivity requirement, and a file that survives contact with an inspector. That is the whole of what exists.
Published pricing
What SB 553 compliance costs
Headcount sets the band. Every band includes all three phases: the written Workplace Violence Prevention Plan covering the required elements, training delivered live with real question and answer, and the audit-ready records file. These are the real numbers, published so you can budget before you talk to anyone.
| Band | Headcount | Build one time | Sustainment annual, from month 12 | Included |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Band A | 1 to 25 employees | $5,000 | $4,500 | 1 site, 1 training session |
| Band B | 26 to 75 employees | $8,500 | $7,500 | 2 sites, 2 training sessions |
| Band C | 76 to 150 employees | $13,500 | $12,500 | 3 sites, 3 training sessions |
| Band D | 151 to 400 employees | $22,500 | $20,000 | 5 sites, 4 training sessions |
| Band E | More than 400 employees | Scoped | Scoped | Quoted by hand. So are live productions and anything tied to a specific active threat. |
Beyond the allowance
Each additional site we walk is $1,500. Each additional training session is $1,500. One session covers one shift at one site; if a shift is too large for one room, add a session for it.
Sustainment starts at month twelve
There is nothing to pay today. The build discharges your first year, so billing sustainment at purchase would charge you twice for the same twelve months. Coverage still starts on day one.
Add to any band
Facility security assessment $5,000 per site. New hire training block $1,500 per session. Behavioral threat assessment $3,500 per case. High risk separation support $2,500 per event.
Your program is booked
Payment received. A receipt is on its way, and we will be in touch within one business day to schedule your site walk. The scope you answered against is on your order, so nothing gets re-litigated later.
Run the check first
The price depends on headcount, sites and shift pattern, and the fee is due in full at purchase. The seven questions above establish the scope you are buying against and put it on the record before the card clears, which is what makes paying in full safe for both sides. Start the check.
Start
Price it yourself
The cost drivers are headcount, how many sites we walk, and how many training sessions your shift pattern needs. You already know all three, so there is nothing here that needs a sales call. Set them, add what you want, and start today. Operations above 400 people, live productions, and anything tied to a specific active threat are the only things we still scope by hand.
One session per shift, per site. If a shift is too large for one room, add a session for it.
Your first twelve months are covered by the program itself. The plan, the hazard evaluation, the training, and the records system are all delivered inside it, and the annual review and refresher the statute requires do not fall due until month twelve. Enrolling now costs nothing today and means your plan revision is covered when the new standard is adopted.
What happens after you pay
You pay and pick your site walk date. The engagement letter and a short intake reach you the same day.
Site walk and hazard evaluation, on your floor, at a time that suits your operation.
Draft plan for review, with your Violent Incident Log and records system set up.
Training delivered on site, per session, with the supervisor module and the train the trainer handoff.
Audit-ready file delivered, indexed, with the readiness assessment and the 2027 annex.
Not sold from a checkout
- Behavioral threat assessment. You buy this because of a specific person and a specific concern, and it should not wait in a cart. Call us and we start the same day
- High risk separation. Scheduled around a date and a person, with the protective posture built to that situation
- Protective intelligence and emergency response drills, both scoped to the operation
- Productions. Festivals, film and television, and touring, from $5,000 for a single site run up to 14 days, priced per run because the number of legs and call times decides the work
- More than 400 employees, or operations across regions
Individual phases
Available separately at $2,500 each for operations in the smallest band, if you already have part of this in place and only need a piece. Most businesses find the full program is the cheaper purchase, and it is the only version that produces a defensible file. Above 25 employees the phases are sold as additions to an existing program, never as a path to compliance on their own.
Why Shadow
We wrote plans before we sold them
This program is built by people who ran protective operations, not by a compliance vendor with a template library. The statute asks an employer to identify workplace violence hazards, evaluate them, correct them in a timely way, and respond to threats and incidents when they happen. That is behavioral threat assessment and physical security written in regulatory language, and it is the work we already do.
The pending standard names the hazards directly: working alone, poor lighting or blocked visibility, unauthorized access points, a lack of escape routes, exchange of money or valuables, late night work, and inadequate staffing. Those are not paperwork questions. They are the findings of a site assessment, and they are why a plan written by somebody who has never walked your building reads like a plan written by somebody who has never walked your building.
See First. Decide Faster. Act Smarter.