California restaurant training: everything the law requires

California asks more of restaurant operators than any other state: harassment prevention, workplace violence, heat illness, an injury-prevention program, food handler cards, and alcohol-server certification, each under its own law with its own clock. This page is the complete checklist: what each requirement is, who it covers, how often it renews, and, the part inspectors care about, how you prove it happened. It's a practical guide, not legal advice; confirm current requirements for your situation.

The five trainings you must deliver (and can deliver today)

These five apply to virtually every California restaurant. SwiftSCORM's ready-made library covers all five in English and Spanish, with a built-in exam, completion certificate, and a manager dashboard for proof, delivered by link or a break-room QR code, no LMS needed.

• Sexual harassment prevention, employees (1 hour). SB 1343 / Gov. Code §12950.1: employers with 5+ employees must train all staff every two years, and new hires within six months. Seasonal and temporary hires have accelerated deadlines.
• Sexual harassment prevention, supervisors (2 hours). Same law, longer format: anyone with supervisory authority needs the two-hour version on the same two-year cycle.
• Workplace violence prevention. SB 553 / Labor Code §6401.9: nearly every California employer, restaurants included, regardless of size, must maintain a workplace violence prevention plan and train on it annually.
• Heat illness prevention. Cal/OSHA Title 8 §3395 (outdoor work: patios, deliveries, parking duty) and §3396 (indoor workplaces, the hot-kitchen standard). Training before exposure, with supervisors trained on response procedures.
• Injury & Illness Prevention Program (IIPP). Title 8 §3203: every California employer must have a written IIPP, and its training pillar is ongoing. Our nine Cal/OSHA safety courses (fire, HazCom, PPE, bloodborne pathogens, slips & falls, emergency action, ergonomics, electrical, foodservice safety) exist to serve exactly this obligation.

The two certifications that must come from accredited providers

Two California requirements are certification cards, not just training, and the law says who may issue them. SwiftSCORM doesn't, and honestly can't: no unaccredited provider can. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you a card an inspector won't accept.

• Food Handler Card (SB 476). Food handlers need a card from an ANAB-accreditedtraining provider. Accredited options include Learn2Serve (360training) and StateFoodSafety; verify a provider's accreditation before you buy.
• Responsible Beverage Service, RBS (AB 1221). Alcohol servers and their managers must train with a California ABC-approved provider and pass the ABC's exam. Start at the state's own portal: abc.ca.gov/education/rbs.

We're complementary, not a substitute: your team needs those two cards and the five trainings above. The cards prove food and alcohol safety; the SwiftSCORM record proves the HR and Cal/OSHA training that the cards don't cover. (We aren't affiliated with and don't receive payment from any card provider.)

Proof is the part that fails audits

Every requirement above shares one trap: doing the training isn't enough, you need a record per person: who, which course, score, pass/fail, and the date, in a form you can hand an inspector. A sign-in sheet doesn't survive scrutiny. Every SwiftSCORM course produces exactly that record automatically, and the dashboard exports it any time. Here's what a defensible record needs →

Sources: Gov. Code §12950.1 and California Civil Rights Department materials (leginfo.legislature.ca.gov, calcivilrights.ca.gov) · Labor Code §6401.9 and Cal/OSHA WVPP guidance (dir.ca.gov) · Cal/OSHA Title 8 §§3395, 3396, 3203 (dir.ca.gov) · California ABC RBS program (abc.ca.gov). Statutes change, verify current requirements before relying on them.