Open late, insured all day.

California's workplace violence plan applies to most stores

Since July 1, 2024, California Labor Code section 6401.9, added by SB 553, has required employers to establish, implement and maintain a written Workplace Violence Prevention Plan. Subdivision (b)(2) exempts only health care settings covered by Title 8 section 3342 and employers that comply with it, certain corrections facilities and law enforcement agencies, employees teleworking from a location of their choice the employer doesn't control, and places with less than 10 employees working there at any given time and not accessible to the public, if they comply with Title 8 section 3203. A sales floor open to customers doesn't fit that last one, and Cal/OSHA can order an exempt employer to comply anyway.

Of the statute's four violence types, two come from outside the staff: Type 1, by someone with no legitimate business at the worksite, including anyone who enters intending to commit a crime; and Type 2, directed at employees by customers or visitors. The plan must be specific to each work area and include:

• Who is responsible for the plan, how employees take part, and how reports are taken without retaliation.
• Emergency procedures: alerts, evacuation or sheltering, and getting help from security or law enforcement.
• Hazard inspections when the plan is first set up, on a periodic schedule, after each incident and whenever a new hazard comes to light, with timely correction.
• A violent incident log for every incident, injury or not: date, time, location, type, a detailed description, who committed it, consequences including whether security or law enforcement was contacted, and who completed the log. Personal identifying information stays out.
• Training when the plan is first set up and annually after that, extra training for a new hazard or a plan change, and a plan review at least annually and after each incident.

Keep hazard records, the incident log and investigation records for at least five years, and training records for at least one year. Employees can examine and copy the hazard records, training records and log free within 15 calendar days of asking. Underwriters ask about security; a current plan and log are concrete answers.

Cash on hand: what to read for in crime coverage

A store takes cash, checks and money orders all day, so read where each of those sits in your package. ISO's businessowners coverage form (BP 00 03), which Verisk lists as eligible for convenience food stores, is designed to include two small crime pieces and to offer more for an additional charge. Your policy's own wording controls, so read your BOP form and declarations for:

• Money orders and counterfeit money: the ISO form includes up to $1,000 for loss from accepting them in good faith in exchange for merchandise, money or services.
• Forgery or alteration: up to $2,500 for forged or altered checks, drafts and similar written promises of payment; the limit may be increased.
• Money and securities (optional): designed for theft, disappearance or destruction at the premises, at a bank, in your living quarters or in transit between them, with separate Inside the Premises and Outside the Premises limits in the declarations.
• Employee dishonesty (optional): designed for business personal property lost to employees' dishonest acts, with the most paid in any one occurrence set by the declarations limit.

Then put your own numbers next to those limits: the most cash in the register and safe on a busy day, your largest bank deposit and who carries it, and how many people handle cash. If you need more than the package offers, a standalone commercial crime policy is the other route. IRMI notes employee dishonesty coverage can be written with a per loss, per employee or per position limit, so check which one your quote uses.

Official sources

• California Labor Code 6401.9 (statute text, California.Public.Law reproduction of leginfo, verified Oct. 12, 2026)
• Cal/OSHA fact sheet: Workplace Violence Prevention in General Industry (June 2024)
• Cal/OSHA: Workplace Violence Prevention Laws in General Industry
• eCFR 40 CFR Part 280 Subpart H, Financial Responsibility (280.90-280.97, 280.101)
• SWRCB UST Cleanup Fund: Financial Responsibility
• SWRCB Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund
• SWRCB memo: UST statutory provisions of AB 1716 and AB 1115 (Nov. 17, 2023)
• ISO Businessowners Policy Program overview (Verisk, Feb. 11, 2025)
• IRMI: Employee dishonesty coverage