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Cal/OSHA restaurant safety training
A built-in safety module for California restaurants: employees read the official Cal/OSHA guide, pass a 20-question quiz, e-sign, and SafeShift issues the training record your IIPP requires.
California requires every employer to train employees on the hazards of their job under a written Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP — Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, § 3203; Labor Code § 6401.7), and to keep records of that training. For restaurants, SafeShift ships a ready-made module — Restaurant Workplace Safety — that delivers the training and keeps the record. It appears in your training library automatically when a location is a restaurant in California; other sectors and states never see it.
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Find the module in your training library
Go to Documents → Training. The module is listed with a green CA restaurants only · guide → quiz → e-sign → certificate note and its legal citation underneath. You cannot edit it (the content is SafeShift's, reviewed against the Cal/OSHA guide), but you assign it like any other training.
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Assign it
Click Assign. Everyone at your California restaurant locations is a match — supervisors included, since the guide covers every restaurant job. People at other locations in the same account (a retail shop, a Florida store) are shown as not matching and are skipped even if you tick them. Set a due date if you want reminders.
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What the employee does
Three steps on the phone app or the employee portal, in English or Spanish. 1. Open the official Cal/OSHA *Workplace Safety & Health Guide — Restaurant Employees* (August 2024) on the DIR website and read pages 8–19, the Do and Don't tables (SafeShift links the guide; it never copies it). 2. Take the 20-question quiz — knives, fryer, chemicals, slips and clean-up, lifting, freezer, machine guarding and lockout, electrical, ladders, burns. 16 of 20 passes; retakes are unlimited, every attempt is logged, and a failed attempt lists the topics to review. 3. Type their name to e-sign. SafeShift then issues a one-page bilingual certificate and files it on their record.
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The certificate and the record
The certificate names the employee, location, date, score, language, the guide edition it was based on, the typed signature with time and IP address, and the next refresher date (12 months). It states that the training was provided under the employer's IIPP (§ 3203). Managers download it from the employee's training record; employees have it in their app. It is an employer training record — not a Cal/OSHA license or certification, and the certificate says so.
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Refreshers and reminders
The record expires 12 months after the pass. SafeShift reminds the employee 30 days before, 7 days before, and on the day it expires (push + inbox, in their language). The employee retakes the quiz and signs again; every certificate ever issued stays on file (the record shows the latest, the history is one click away). A job-title change on the Team page brings the employee module due immediately — the guide calls for retraining on new equipment and assignments — and the employee gets a "your job changed" notice.
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The supervisor module
Restaurant Safety for Supervisors is the second catalog row, offered to supervisory titles (Shift Manager, App Manager, Owner) at California restaurants. Same three steps: read pages 2–7 of the guide (IIPP elements, young-worker rules, hazard controls, the training requirement), pass a 15-question quiz (12 of 15), sign. It covers what a Cal/OSHA inspector asks a manager: the written IIPP, hazard reporting without reprisal, training and inspection records (kept at least a year), SDS access, serious-injury reporting within 8 hours, the DWC-1 claim form within one working day, and the under-18 equipment restrictions. Supervisors also take the employee module — it covers everyone.
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Export the records
⬇ CSV on a module card exports one row per employee record — status, score, attempts, completion date, signature name/time/IP, material edition, language, next refresher, under-18 flag — in your timezone; a location-scoped manager gets their locations only. 🕘 History on a dashboard cell lists every certificate ever issued to that person for the module.
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The template documents: what to do with them
The green Official documents chips under a module link Cal/OSHA's free program templates (IIPP for restaurants, Hazard Communication program, Workplace Violence Prevention plan, Heat Illness plan). A .doc/.docx file is a fill-in template — the red sections ask for your business's specifics (who is responsible, how hazards are reported, inspection schedule, emergency procedures). Once filled in it *is* your written program. Four steps: 1. Download, complete the red sections, save as PDF. 2. Go to Settings → Documents (the Manage Templates → link on the Documents page) and use ↑ Upload PDF Template to add it as a custom document type. 3. Open Documents → Policy Campaigns → + New Campaign, pick that document, choose the locations, and send — employees read and acknowledge it in the app, and you see who has signed. Add it to new-hire onboarding packets too. 4. Keep the signed copy on site: the written program plus the acknowledgements and the training records are what a Cal/OSHA inspector asks for.
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Workplace violence prevention (SB 553) and non-California restaurants
Two more catalog rows appear automatically. Workplace Violence Prevention (SB 553 + quiz) shows at every California location in any sector — Labor Code § 6401.9 requires annual training for nearly every California employer. It links Cal/OSHA's employee fact sheet (English and Spanish), has 15 questions on the four violence types, the written plan, reporting without retaliation, the incident log and employee rights, and its sign step asks the employee to confirm they know how to get a free copy of your plan. It does not replace your own plan or the plan-specific briefing you give (who is responsible, your site's procedures). Restaurant Workplace Safety (OSHA guide + quiz) shows at restaurant locations in Florida, Texas, Georgia and Idaho: the same 20 safety questions, with OSHA's Young Worker Safety in Restaurants eTool as the material and the federal OSH Act as the legal basis.
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Employees under 18
Add a date of birth on the Team page (optional; stored encrypted). Employees under 18 get an Under 18 badge on the training dashboard and an Under 18 filter, and the CSV export carries an under-18 column. The training still applies to them — the restriction is on the work: California and federal child-labor rules keep minors off power-driven slicers, mixers and similar machines, and the Cal/OSHA guide adds fryers and ladders for 14- and 15-year-olds.
Good to know
- This module trains employees; it does not write your IIPP. Cal/OSHA publishes a free sample IIPP for restaurants, a model Hazard Communication program, and model Heat Illness and Workplace Violence plans on dir.ca.gov — adopt those as your written programs and keep them with your other documents.
- Workplace violence prevention (Labor Code § 6401.9, SB 553) is its own catalog row — see the step above. Assign both to a California crew.
- Minors: the guide restricts employees under 18 from fryers, slicers, mixers and ladders. The quiz still applies to them — the restriction is on the work, not the training.
- The quiz questions are SafeShift's own content. Cal/OSHA does not certify or approve third-party training — any product that says it is "Cal/OSHA certified" is overstating.
If something goes wrong
Why don't I see the module?
It shows only when at least one active location is set to the restaurant sector with California as its work state (Settings → Locations). Set the sector and it appears on the next page load.
An employee passed but has no certificate yet.
Passing is step 2; the certificate is issued at step 3 when they sign. Their card shows Sign to receive your certificate until they do. Managers see the record as *In progress · passed, signature pending* in the meantime — it is never counted as complete until the certificate exists.
Can I see the attempts, not just the final score?
Every submission is stored with its answers. The employee's record shows the latest score and pass/fail; the CSV export carries the attempt count and last attempt time, and the history survives even if you revoke the assignment.
Does this work in the mobile app, and in Spanish?
Yes to both. The employee flow — guide link, quiz with per-question feedback, missed topics, e-sign, certificate — is identical in the SafeShift mobile app and the web portal. Everything the employee sees follows their preferred language (set on the Team page or by the employee): the guide opens in the Spanish edition, the 20 questions, explanations, the sign step and the certificate are in Spanish, and reminders arrive in Spanish. The federal OSHA eTool itself is English-only; the Spanish quiz still stands on its own.
Why did an employee's training become due right after I changed their title?
By design: the employee module is marked *retrain on job change*. The guide calls for retraining when someone takes on new equipment or tasks. The old certificate stays on file; a new pass and signature start the next 12-month cycle.