SAN FRANCISCO – August 26 is the last day for amendments to be made to current legislation. Earlier in the week, SB 1768 (Patrick Johnston), a workers’ compensation bill, contained one section that would impact on Cal-OSHA as well as workers’ comp insurers. If Insurance Code 11721 stands as amended, it would exempt an insurer …
SAN FRANCISCO – Fed-OSHA has received numerous complaints from employers and employees about private companies who sell “official” OSHA handbooks, posters and other materials. Often the solicitations are accompanied by veiled threats of imminent OSHA action or extremely high fines if the products are not purchased immediately. While there are legitimate and useful training programs …
SAN FRANCISCO – “Guidelines for First Aid Training Programs” have been developed by Fed-OSHA, which emphasized in a recent news release that the agency does not “approve” or “certify” any specific first aid training programs for instructors or trainees. It is important for employers to know this, agency administrator Joseph Dear said. No programs have …
SAN FRANCISCO – San Mateo County seeks a knowledgeable, resourceful person to serve as industrial hygiene program coordinator in the county’s Risk Management Division. September 9 is the closing date for applications. Contact the San Mateo County Employee and Public Services Dept., 590 Hamilton St., Redwood City, CA 94063 (415-363-4343), to request an application packet.
SAN FRANCISCO – CONFINED/ENCLOSED SPACES IN SHIPYARDS: A major overhaul of 29 CFR Part 1915, to become effective on October 24, was announced recently by Fed-OSHA. “The updated rules offer greater protection for workers by extending confined space requirements to land-side operations as well,” OSHA Administrator Joseph Dear said. “At the same time, these performance-oriented …
SAN FRANCISCO – Fed-OSHA has issued a final rule that applies to employers who receive a package, freight container, motor vehicle, rail freight car or transport vehicle containing a hazardous material required by the Department of Transportation (DOT) to be marked, labeled or placarded. Employers are to retain hazard labels until packaging is sufficiently cleaned …
SAN FRANCISCO – AUTHOR! AUTHOR! A member of the Cal-OSHA Advisory Committee has edited Technological Change in the Workplace: Health Impacts for Workers. She is UCLA’s Marianne Brown, whose co-editor was John Froines. Published jointly by the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, UCLA School of Public Health and the Center for Labor Research and …
SAN FRANCISCO – In 1993, for the first time, total assaults and violent acts edged out transportation accidents as the leading cause of death in the California workplace. Preliminary data from the Division of Labor Statistics and Research (DLSR) showed that in 1993, of 615 workplace fatalities, 34 were suicides, 195 were homicides (162 by …