SAN FRANCISCO – Two bills that were introduced recently will have an impact on the Cal-OSHA program. SB 1491 (Pat Johnston) would require the governor to fill vacant labor seats on the Cal-OSH Standards Board within 90 days of a vacancy or lose the appointment power to the speaker of the Assembly. The bill, sponsored …
SAN FRANCISCO – The highly touted L.A. environmental crimes and occupational safety and health unit can no longer accept new cases, District Attorney Gil Garcetti announced recently. A strict hiring freeze, imposed because of the county’s budget crisis, has created a shortage in the number of prosecutors. With fewer attorneys, the D.A. is obliged to …
SAN FRANCISCO – Governor Pete Wilson has made his four appointments to slots on the new Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation. Those selected have all been involved in workers’ compensation reform; none of them come from the private workers’ comp insurance business. Gregory Vach is director of workers’ compensation for the Ralston …
SAN FRANCISCO – At the conclusion of the joint state-federal investigation into the fatality at K & L Plating in Oakland, Cal- and Fed-OSHA officials cited the small firm (54 employees at three locations) for a number of serious safety violations and proposed penalties totaling $741,000. Cal-OSHA issued seven willful/serious, 17 serious, one general/regulatory, and …
SAN FRANCISCO – The Mining and Tunneling Unit headed by Richard Hughes has issued a report on progress made to correct deficiencies found in the way the unit’s Van Nuys district office carried out safety oversight functions over the Metro Rail project. Responses to OSHA task group recommendations made in 1992 are reported, and other …
SAN FRANCISCO – On March 15, the Department of Labor and Industries announced that, as of September 1, tobacco smoking would be prohibited in all private and public offices where clerical, administrative or other business activities take place. However, smoking will be permissible if employers set up designated smoking areas equipped with special ventilation systems. …
SAN FRANCISCO – Proposed 1910.1033, Indoor Air Quality, includes sweeping restrictions on tobacco smoke. Although Fed-OSHA has yet to publish the text in the Federal Register, Labor Secretary Robert Reich announced the plan at a news conference on March 25. Subsection (e)(1) of the proposal will control employee exposure to tobacco smoke in all indoor …
SAN FRANCISCO – Fed-OSHA has reopened the rulemaking record on methylene chloride (MC), a probable human carcinogen that is widely used as an industrial solvent. The rule was originally proposed in 1991. Two informal public hearings were held, including one in San Francisco October 14-16, 1992. (See Vol 19 EVENTS, pp. 00-5490 and -5491.) The …