BERKELEY – Fed-OSHA has just announced six train-the-trainer grants. Two are for workplace violence while four are for scaffold safety. The grants are named for the late Susan Harwood, who was a key member of the agency’s health standards staff for 17 years. The Regents of UC-Berkeley were awarded $120,000 to conduct train-the-trainer courses about …
BERKELEY – The Southern California Injury Prevention Research Center at UCLA has begun the second year of a four-year intervention project to prevent workplace violence in the retail and service sectors in Los Angeles. The co-investigators are Jess Kraus and Corinne Peek-Asa; Cal-OSHA Chief John Howard is also participating in the effort, which is funded …
BERKELEY – Hudson Foods, a Missouri poultry processor, was cited by Fed-OSHA on December 19 for a number of willful violations related to ergonomic hazards; penalties of $840,000 were proposed. It was the second OSHA case in 1997 involving the facility in Noel, MO, and the 24th OSHA inspection there. The earlier alleged violations at …
BERKELEY – On January 21 at 9 a.m. an advisory committee will continue its review of amendments to Title 8, Boiler and Fired Pressure Vessel Safety Orders. The committee is meeting in the training room at 7700 Edgewater Drive, Oakland. For more information, contact John Lemire, 415-557-1878.
BERKELEY – As its December 18 meeting, the Cal-OSH Standards Board adopted the long-awaited regulations for installation and use of wheelchair lifts (special access lifts). Revisions to Title 8, Elevator Article 5, 3093 and new 3094 through 3094.6 (also for Title 24) were considered at length at the public hearing of April 17, 1997. They …
SAN FRANCISCO – Cal-OSHA Chief John Howard began his administrative report to the Cal-OSHA Advisory Committee by discussing the “population-based social habit called smoking.” It is “not exclusively an occupational issue,” he said. Dr. Howard was referring to repercussions from the statewide ban on tobacco smoking in the workplace. (NEWS p. 00-6813 of Vol. 24.) …
SAN FRANCISCO – VOLUNTARY PROTECTION PROGRAMS: Bare said Aerojet’s Azuza plant is the eighth VPP and BASF has been recertified for the third time as a STAR. The first contractors to be chosen for a VPP in the construction industry will be selected in January. LEGAL UNIT REPORT Mike Mason briefly reviewed legislation affecting Cal-OSHA …
BERKELEY – ESCAPE FROM “HOTEL CALIFORNIA”? The state Department of Toxic Substances (DTSC) “reminds many people of that famous lyric by the Eagles, in ‘Hotel California’: ‘You can check out, but you can never leave.’ Such has been the experience of those in the regulated community who have identified non-RCRA-hazardous waste in their waste stream …