Policy required document Workplace
Workplace Violence Prevention Plan
A workplace violence prevention plan says how the employer identifies the risk of violence at its sites, what employees should do when it happens, how incidents are reported and investigated, and what training staff receive. Until 2024 this was a best practice backed by OSHA's general duty clause.
California then made it a statute for nearly every employer: Labor Code 6401.9 required a written plan in place by July 1, 2024, with named responsible people, employee involvement, reporting without retaliation, emergency response, a violent incident log, annual training and an annual review of the plan's effectiveness, with records kept five years.
New York followed for retail: Labor Law 27-e requires any employer with ten or more retail employees to adopt a written policy and train staff, and employers with 500 or more retail employees statewide to provide a silent response button from January 1, 2027.
The numbers behind the statutes are steady rather than falling. The Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded 5,070 fatal work injuries in 2024, of which 733 were violent acts and 470 were homicides, up from 458 in 2023 (Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, released February 19, 2026).
Nonfatal violence is far larger and concentrated in healthcare, retail, transport and social services. Outside California and New York the plan is the employer's answer to the general duty clause, to the workers' compensation carrier, and to the negligence claim that follows an incident the employer had reason to foresee.
Obligation ledger
Who requires it, and what each one says.
| Source | Applies when | What it requires | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| California Labor Code, workplace violence prevention plan Cal. Lab. Code 6401.9 | Nearly all California employers, from July 1, 2024 | A written plan naming responsible persons, with employee involvement, coordination with other employers on shared sites, incident reporting without retaliation, emergency response, hazard identification and correction, post-incident investigation and annual review; a violent incident log with identifying details redacted; training at plan launch and annually; records kept five years (training one year). Legally required. | Mandatory |
| New York Retail Worker Safety Act NY Labor Law 27-e | New York employers with ten or more retail employees | Adopt the state model workplace violence prevention policy or an equivalent addressing risk factors such as late hours, cash handling, working alone and access control, with incident reporting, remedies and an anti-retaliation statement; train all retail employees at hiring and annually (every two years for employers under 50 retail employees); employers with 500 or more retail employees statewide must provide a silent response button from January 1, 2027. Legally required. | Mandatory |
| Occupational Safety and Health Act, general duty clause 29 U.S.C. 654(a)(1) | Every employer covered by OSHA | Furnish a place of employment free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm. OSHA cites employers under this clause for foreseeable workplace violence where feasible abatement existed. No document is named; the plan is the abatement. | Implied |
Required sections
- Names of the people responsible for the plan and for each site
- How employees are involved in identifying hazards and designing training (California requires this)
- Types of violence covered: criminal intent, customer or client, worker on worker, and personal relationship
- How to report an incident, threat or concern, including anonymously, and that reporting will not be punished
- Emergency response: alerting, evacuation or shelter, calling police, and site-specific exits and meeting points
- Hazard assessment by site: cash handling, late hours, working alone, access control, lighting
- Post-incident investigation, corrective action and timelines
- The violent incident log and what it records, with personal identifiers redacted
- Training content and frequency, and who delivers it
- Annual review of the plan's effectiveness and how it is updated
- Records retained and for how long
What the examiner asks for
What changed
Change log.
Frameworks
Where this document is required.
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Questions
What people ask.
We are a 12-person office in California with no public access. Are we exempt?
Only if the site has fewer than ten employees at any time and is not accessible to the public. Twelve employees means the plan is required. The exemption is per site, not per company.
Is this the same as the healthcare workplace violence standard?
No. Healthcare facilities in California have been covered by a separate Cal/OSHA standard since 2017 and are exempt from 6401.9 to that extent. This page is about the general-industry plan that reached everyone else in 2024.
We are not in California or New York. Why write one?
Because OSHA has cited employers under the general duty clause for foreseeable violence for years, and because after an incident the first question from the carrier, the police and the plaintiff's lawyer is whether there was a plan. A written plan with training records is the answer; its absence is the case.
What goes in the incident log?
Date, time, location, type of violence, who the perpetrator was in category terms (customer, coworker, stranger), the circumstances, the consequences and the response, with personal identifying information removed. California requires it and specifies these fields; it is a sensible record everywhere.
Sources
Cal. Lab. Code 6401.9, workplace violence prevention plan (California Legislative Information)NY Labor Law 27-e, Retail Worker Safety Act (NY Senate)29 U.S.C. 654, OSH Act duties of employers (Cornell LII)Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries Summary, 2024 (released February 19, 2026)