— Compliance Campaign
Brief · California · 2026
California SB-553 is in effect.
Most plans won't survive an inspection.
California employers with 10+ in-state employees are subject to the most comprehensive general-industry workplace violence law in the United States. Kestralis builds defensible programs — not form-filler plans.
What SB-553 requires
Four deliverables every covered employer must maintain.
California Labor Code § 6401.9
- — 01
A written, site-specific WVPP
A Workplace Violence Prevention Plan that addresses the required 11 procedural elements, tailored to each work area and operation — not a template.
- — 02
A Violent Incident Log
Operational recordkeeping of every incident, regardless of injury, with the 10 required data elements. Retained for five years.
- — 03
A training program
Initial training and annual retraining. Interactive, language- and literacy-appropriate. Records retained one year minimum.
- — 04
A recordkeeping system
Hazard assessment records, incident logs, and investigation records. Retained five years and produced on request for Cal/OSHA.
— Common failures
What we see most often in non-compliant programs.
Every item below is citable on its own — and every one of them is routine in plans written to meet the July 2024 deadline.
- 01A plan downloaded from Cal/OSHA's model and never customized to the actual worksite
- 02An incident log that no one has been trained to use, or that lives in a spreadsheet no one opens
- 03Training delivered once in 2024 and never repeated
- 04No defined Threat Assessment Team and no documented escalation path
- 05No annual review — the plan has not been touched since adoption
- 06Managers who don't know the plan exists, let alone what it obligates them to do
Frequently asked
Questions counsel and HR leadership ask us first.
Who has to comply with SB-553?
Any California employer with 10 or more employees in the state — including out-of-state employers with California-based workers. A small number of industries are exempt (primarily those already regulated under the separate healthcare workplace violence standard).
What happens if we are inspected and non-compliant?
Cal/OSHA can cite up to $25,000 for a serious violation and up to $158,727 for a willful violation. More importantly, a citable deficiency becomes available evidence in any downstream civil action alleging negligent safety practices.
The law has been in effect since July 2024. Why do we still need help?
Most plans written in 2024 were generic templates filed to meet the deadline. Cal/OSHA's permanent workplace violence standard is due by end of 2026 — every existing plan will need to be updated. Annual review, retraining, and ongoing incident-log discipline are additional requirements most employers have not operationalized.
How is Kestralis different from HR compliance vendors?
We are not an HR firm selling templates. Our principals have designed and run enterprise-scale security programs and managed real threat cases, and a licensed private investigations capability is in-house when a case requires it. We build programs that work, not binders that check a box.
Next steps
Run the assessment. Then talk to a principal.
ReadyStategives you a defensible, gap-level view of your current program in under ten minutes. Bring the results to a thirty-minute consultation and we'll scope the work from there.