Does buying this course finish our obligation under SB 553?
No, and we would rather say so before you pay than after. This delivers the training content and records who completed it. Section 6401.9 also requires you to establish and maintain an effective, written Workplace Violence Prevention Plan that is accessible to employees at no cost and specific to each work area’s actual hazards; to identify those hazards and correct them; to name the people responsible; to keep a violent incident log and investigate what happens; and to give employees a real opportunity to ask questions of a person who knows your plan. The course teaches learners to go looking for those things. It cannot invent them for your workplace, and it does not pretend to.
Can this course be the "person knowledgeable about the plan"?
No, and that is worth being blunt about. The statute requires an opportunity for interactive questions and answers with a person who knows your actual plan. A course — ours or anyone else’s — knows the law, not your worksite, your reporting contacts or your evacuation route. The course itself makes this point to the learner in the final module. You need to name a real, monitored person.
Is this legal advice?
No. It is training. It explains the standard and how prevention, reporting, emergency response and investigation are supposed to work in general terms. It does not decide any individual situation and it is not a substitute for a lawyer or a safety professional when you have a live problem.
How often does this training have to be repeated?
There are three triggers, not one. When the plan is first established and when an employee is first assigned; at least once a year after that; and additionally whenever a new or previously unrecognised hazard is identified or the plan changes. The course is explicit that the extra training on a new hazard or a plan change does not remove the annual requirement. The completion record is dated so you can track the annual cycle, but a plan change can bring it forward.
Which California employers are actually covered?
Most, but not all, and you have to make the call per worksite and document it. The exemptions are specific: healthcare operations covered by Title 8 §3342 follow the healthcare-specific standard instead; an employee teleworking from a location of their own choosing outside your control may be exempt; a site with fewer than ten employees present at any time that is not open to the public may qualify if it also complies with §3203; and certain corrections and qualifying law-enforcement operations may be exempt. Note that headcount alone is not enough — the small-site exemption has several conditions and all of them have to hold.
We already bought your California sexual harassment course. Is this the same thing?
No, and one does not cover the other. That course is Gov. Code §12950.1 (SB 1343), enforced by the Civil Rights Department, and it has separate employee and supervisor versions. This is Labor Code §6401.9 (SB 553), enforced by Cal/OSHA, and it is one course for all covered employees. An employer with California staff generally owes both. The two keep separate completion records, so finishing this one does not overwrite the other.
Is there a separate supervisor version of this course?
No, and that is deliberate rather than an omission. Unlike the California harassment requirement, §6401.9 states one training duty and draws no supervisor/non-supervisor line, so there is one course for everyone. Module 4 does cover the employer-side machinery — the violent incident log, post-incident investigation, retention and the annual review — because employees have rights against it, including the right to request records.
Does watching the videos count as interactive training on its own?
Passive playback is not the point. That is why there are twenty checkpoint questions inside the videos, a quiz after every module and a final exam, each with feedback on the answer. Seeking forward past a checkpoint is blocked, and playback pauses after a stretch of inactivity. That still does not replace the live question route — see above.
Does it cover threats made online or by a former employee?
Yes. Module 1 treats texts, email and social posts as conduct that can communicate a threat, and the four types include violence by a current or former employee (Type 3) and by someone with a personal relationship to an employee, such as a former partner arriving at the workplace (Type 4).
How long do we have to keep the records?
Training records for at least one year. Hazard identification and correction records, violent incident logs and incident investigations for at least five years. Employees and their representatives can examine and copy specified records free of charge, and you have fifteen calendar days from the request to provide them. Cal/OSHA can ask for them too.
Do part-time and seasonal workers need it?
Treat them as included. The duty attaches to employees working in California rather than to a particular employment classification, and the course is written for all staff rather than only managers.
What happens if someone fails the final exam?
They retake it. Every attempt draws a new set of questions from the bank, so a retake is a real re-test.
Can I buy seats for my team?
Yes. Five-seat and ten-seat bundles are on this page, and there is an enterprise option for larger headcounts.