SB-553: OSHA Will Ask for This Starting July 1st.

In California, SB-553 means that beginning July 1st, 2024, most companies will have to have a Workplace Violence Prevention Program that is published in a binder available for anybody to view. Nobody will come knocking on your door on July 1st if you do not have this done, but if an incident occurs and you do not have one, be prepared for a hefty fine.

As a part of this, annual training will be mandatory and a violent incident must be maintained. Violence can come from an angry customer, a family member of an employee, a member of the general public that just happened to be in your location, an angry employee, or from many other circumstances. It will be important to take this seriously and get this done on time.

Staffing industry people, you can also set yourself apart from your competition by being a partner to your clients in ensuring that they are getting this done as well. You can provide them with the information on how to get started or even share some templates with them.

Here are some useful links:

Sample Template from the State of California: https://www.calhr.ca.gov/Documents/model-workplace-violence-and-bullying-prevention-program.pdf

Fact sheet from the Department of Industrial Relations: https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/Workplace-Violence/General-Industry.html

**Note that this does not apply to the medical field as they have had programs in place like this for a number of years.

Feel free to share this article with the helpful links with your clients and peers to ensure that everybody is ready for this.