California OSHA Standards Board Releases Updated Draft Workplace Violence Prevention Regulation

Quick Hits

• On July 22, 2026, the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board released a revised draft workplace violence prevention regulation that clarifies and narrows employer-provided transportation to only include “employer-provided transportation under the employer’s control.”
• The revised draft regulation no longer includes the previous exception to “Threat of Violence” that provided “The employer is not responsible for texts, electronic messages, or personal social media that are not brought to the attention of the employer or that the employer could not otherwise be reasonably aware of.”
• The new draft states that an employee assistance program would satisfy the requirement to offer or make available individual trauma counseling.

The draft regulation would continue to require a workplace violence prevention plan with:

1. the name or job title of the person responsible for the plan;
2. procedures for active involvement of employees in developing and implementing the plan;
3. coordination of the plan with other employers at their worksites;
4. procedures to respond to reports of workplace violence;
5. compliance procedures;
6. communications methodologies for the plan, including reporting workplace violence and communicating investigation results;
7. procedures for responding to emergencies;
8. training procedures;
9. procedures for identifying and evaluating workplace violence hazards;
10. methodology for correcting workplace violence hazards;
11. post-incident response procedures and investigation actions; and
12. procedures for review and evaluation of the workplace violence prevention plan.

The draft regulation clarifies and narrows employer-provided transportation to only include “employer-provided transportation under the employer’s control.”

The draft regulation clarifies the “work practice controls” example related to staffing levels. Now, appropriate staffing levels would be “based on the employer’s workplace violence hazard assessment” required under the employer’s plan.

The Standards Board added feasibility language to the section on engineering and work practice controls.

The Standards Board also removed the reference to stalking as a workplace violence hazard. According to the materials, stalking will be listed in a future California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal/OSHA) guidance document along with other examples of workplace violence.

The section that would require employers to offer or make available individual trauma counseling remains despite many employer concerns. The new draft states that an employee assistance program would satisfy the requirement to offer counseling.

The Standards Board will accept comments through August 17, 2026, and then provide a final version for the notice and subsequent vote. A vote approving the final draft standard is expected for the fall or winter with an implementation date of January 1, 2027.

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