- Every incident goes in — including threats, and whether or not anyone was injured or police were called.
- Each entry classifies the incident as one of four workplace violence types (criminal intent, customer/client, worker-on-worker, personal relationship).
- The log must contain no personal identifying information — names and identifying details stay in the separate investigation record.
- Retention is five years minimum; employees can demand a copy and get it within 15 calendar days, free.
What counts as a loggable incident
Labor Code §6401.9 defines workplace violence broadly: any act of violence or threat of violence that occurs in a place of employment — including verbal or written threats, physical conduct that injures or could injure, and incidents involving firearms or other weapons. The definition explicitly excludes only lawful acts of self-defense or defense of others.
Three consequences of that breadth surprise employers:
- No-injury incidents are loggable. A customer who screams a credible threat at a cashier belongs in the log even though nobody was touched.
- The log is incident-driven, not police-driven. Whether law enforcement was called is a field in the entry, not the trigger for one.
- The employee record requirement is solicitation, not just reception. The statute requires the entry to be based on information solicited from the employees who experienced the incident, witness statements, and investigation findings — you have to go ask, not wait for a form to arrive.
The four workplace violence types
Every entry must classify the incident as one of the statute's four types:
| Type | Who the aggressor is | Typical example |
|---|---|---|
| Type 1 | Criminal intent — no legitimate business at the worksite | Robbery of a store or restaurant; break-in during a closing shift |
| Type 2 | Customer or client — someone the business serves | A customer assaults or threatens an employee over a refund; an agitated patient at a clinic |
| Type 3 | Worker-on-worker — a present or former employee, supervisor, or manager | A terminated employee threatens a manager; a fight between coworkers |
| Type 4 | Personal relationship — an outsider with a personal connection to an employee | An employee's ex-partner shows up at the workplace and makes threats |
The classification isn't bureaucratic trivia — it drives prevention. A site logging Type 2 incidents needs de-escalation procedures and staffing fixes; repeated Type 1 entries point to lighting, cash handling, and entry control.
Every required field
Section 6401.9(d) spells out the log's contents. For each incident, record:
| Field | What it must capture |
|---|---|
| Date, time, location | When the incident happened and where — specific enough to map patterns (sales floor vs. parking lot vs. stockroom). |
| Workplace violence type | Type 1, 2, 3, or 4, per the definitions above. |
| Detailed description | A factual narrative of the incident — what happened, in order, in concrete terms. |
| Who committed it (classification, not name) | Category of the aggressor: customer/client, stranger with criminal intent, coworker, supervisor or manager, partner or spouse (current or former), parent or relative, or other. |
| Circumstances at the time | Context the statute calls out: was the employee performing usual duties, working in a poorly lit area, rushed, working during a low-staffing period, isolated or alone, unable to get help, working in a community setting, or in an unfamiliar or new location? |
| Where it occurred | Workplace interior, parking lot or other outdoor area, personal residence (for home-visit work), or other. |
| Nature of the incident | The statute's own categories: physical attack without a weapon (e.g., hitting, kicking, pushing, biting, scratching, spitting); attack with a weapon or object (firearm, knife, other); threat of physical force or threat of weapon use; sexual assault or threat; animal attack; other. |
| Consequences | Whether security or law enforcement was contacted and what they did; what actions were taken to protect employees from a continuing threat or from future incidents. |
| Who completed the entry | Name, job title, and the date the entry was completed. |
What must stay out: personal identifying information
The log must omit personal identifying information — anything that would reveal the identity of people involved, such as names, addresses, or similar identifiers. This is the field employers get backwards most often: the instinct is to write "Maria at register 2 was threatened by John Doe," but the log is a pattern document that employees and their representatives can request, not a personnel file.
Identifying details go in the incident investigation record, which is a separate document with different access rules. A clean split: the log gets the what, when, where, how; the investigation file gets the who.
A log that fills in its own fields.
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Retention and access rules
- Keep the log five years, minimum. That's five years of entries, producible — not a binder that gets cleared out each January.
- Employees can demand it. Employees and their representatives are entitled to examine and copy the log within 15 calendar days of a request, at no cost.
- Cal/OSHA can ask for it during any inspection — and an empty log at a business with police call history for the address is a credibility problem, not a clean record.
- Review feeds prevention. The plan must use log entries in post-incident response and periodic hazard review; entries that never inform a correction record undercut the program. See the full records checklist.
Five common mistakes
- Logging only physical contact. Threats are loggable incidents. If your log has zero entries but your staff can name three scary moments this year, the log is wrong.
- Names in the log. Personal identifying information is prohibited — move it to the investigation record.
- One combined record. The log entry, the investigation, and the OSHA 300 determination are three different records with different rules. The violent incident log is not the OSHA 300 log: the 300 log captures recordable injuries; the violent incident log captures every violent incident, injury or not.
- Waiting for reports. The statute expects you to solicit information from the employees involved and witnesses. Train supervisors to open an entry the same day, then complete it as facts come in.
- Skipping the consequences field. "What was done to protect employees afterward" is the field inspectors read first — it connects the log to the rest of your plan.
Frequently asked questions
What incidents have to go in the log?
Every workplace violence incident, including threats, regardless of injury or whether police were called. The only definitional carve-out is lawful self-defense or defense of others.
What are the four types of workplace violence?
Type 1 — criminal intent (no legitimate business at the site); Type 2 — customer or client; Type 3 — worker-on-worker, including former employees; Type 4 — personal relationship, like an employee's ex-partner. Every entry must be classified.
Can the log include employee names?
No — the statute requires the log to omit personal identifying information. Identifying detail belongs in the separate investigation record.
How long do we keep the log, and who can see it?
Five years minimum. Employees and their representatives can examine and copy it within 15 calendar days of asking, free; Cal/OSHA can request it in any inspection.
Is this the same as the OSHA 300 log?
No. The OSHA 300 log records qualifying injuries and illnesses; the violent incident log records every violent incident, injured or not. One event can require entries in both.
This article is general information about California law, not legal advice, and SB553Ready is a software tool, not a law firm. Statutes and enforcement practice change; confirm your program with qualified counsel or a safety professional. Statute text: Labor Code §6401.9(d).