There are 10 new workplace fatalities, half of them from COVID. Deaths from the pandemic are decreasing as the combination of vaccines, potential herd immunity, and efficacy of treatment improve exponentially. However, public health officials warn that a fourth surge could occur if protective measures are ignored. All the fatalities occurred in the last two …
The Cal/OSHA Standards Board issued what amounts to a split decision on Western States Petroleum Association’s petition to revise the Process Safety Management standard, an attempt to forestall pending litigation. The Board’s decision also folds in a request for regulatory change covering those parts of the petition the Board denied. The decision means all of …
Just months after Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed her bill to end the Cal/OSHA regulatory exemption for domestic household employees, Senator Maria Elena Durazo has returned with a similar bill, SB 321. This week, the legislation was approved by the Senate Labor, Public Employment, and Retirement Committee and has been sent to the Judiciary committee. The …
Cal/OSHA’s long-awaited update to its regulation on personal protective equipment used in firefighting was described as a “monumental step forward” and “groundbreaking” in a public hearing by the Standards Board. That’s one side. The other side is that employers see potential pitfalls in the proposal, urging the board to avoid making the revision too broad, …
Cal/OSHA found what is says are serious flaws in a petition regarding rebar bracing, but enough merit to warrant more rulemaking and further investigation. Marisa “Reese” Fortin, CSP, ARP, CHST, STSC, area safety manager for Sundt Construction in Irvine, petitioned the board to allow for internal bracing, arguing that currently Cal/OSHA prohibits it. That’s one …
There are eight new workplace fatalities under investigation, five of them from COVID. Workplace-related deaths attributed to the virus from China continue to plummet as the pandemic’s end is in sight. The non-COVID fatalities include: A fatal fall in Los Angeles. A 43-year-old employee of Murray Co. Mechanical Contractors fell approximately 25 feet to the …
Christopher Larsen jokingly calls the work his company did to help replace a bridge over a remote Mendocino County waterway “the little project from hell.” For its efforts, Sonoma County’s C.V. Larsen Co. was recently honored for “Safety on a High Hazard Project” by the Associated General Contractors of California. The hurdles this contractor faced …
The California Court of Appeal has set aside an award of $2.9 million to a safety professional who was retaliated against by Sonoma State University after he blew the whistle on asbestos exposures at the North Bay institution. But, as common wisdom holds, the lawyers always win. Based in San Francisco, the First Appellate District …