The California Office of Administrative Law has signed off on a revision to Cal/OSHA Standards Board rules on variance applications. It provides for paperless variance applications, eliminating a decades-old requirement for multiple printed copies. Board rule §411 is revised allowing employers to file one application instead of the current original plus six, as well as …
Cal/OSHA’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health is moving quickly to address issues remaining from the recent adoption of personal protective equipment requirements for firemen. DOSH will convene a technical advisory committee May 25th on respiratory protection for wildland firemen, and three Standards Board follow up with a full advisory committee on June 9th addressing …
The Cal/OSHA Standards Board has rejected a petition by a labor-management group seeking to take a unique approach to regulating COVID and future diseases of its ilk. The board also turned back entreaties to send the issue to an advisory committee on its own merit. But the issue is not dead: The board said it …
As expected, Cal/OSHA’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health is readopting its emergency standard on “normal consumption” of personal protective equipment in hospitals. The rule is based on AB 2537, a 2020 law mandating that hospitals have what it deems as an adequate supply of surgical masks, powered air-purifying respirators, elastomeric respirators, isolation gowns, eye …
There are two new workplace fatalities recent days. In Palmdale, an employee of D&J Transport was killed in a forklift rollover. In Woodland, an employee of Muller Ag, LLC, was found unresponsive underneath a tractor and later died in a hospital.
Almost eight years after being mandated by the California legislature, the Cal/OSHA Standards Board has adopted revisions to the Title 8 requirements on firefighters’ personal protective equipment. But issues surrounding firefighter safety aren’t entirely resolved. Advisory committee talks are expected soon on topics such as respiratory protection in wildland operations, with wildfires having become much …
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has fired a major shot over the bow at the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health (ADOSH), threatening to revoke its final state plan approval. Fed-OSHA wants it to make several Arizona standards “at least as effective as” Fed-OSHA’s regulations. Arizona responded by calling the move a …
There are six new workplace fatalities in recent days. Four of them are confirmed as work-related, and the other two appear to be from natural causes or employee actions. In Union City, an employee of Weber Logistics fell off a loading dock, suffering head trauma. The employee was placed on life support after being hospitalized, …