The Standards Board has adopted a regulatory proposal aimed at complying with state law on single-user toilet facilities. But does it now put Cal/OSHA in the business of policing and citing employers for yet another infraction? As one observer put it, “What has this got to do with safety?” The proposal is based on 2016 …
Stakeholders weighed in at a Standards Board public hearing on a proposal to replace the Title 8 operator training, qualification and certification standards for cranes and derricks in construction with Fed-OSHA language. There was some objection to adopting the federal language as is, and others sought clarification in the proposal before the board votes on …
Representatives of the residential framing and roofing industries are pushing back against what they say are “significant errors” in the economic impact assessment concerning Cal/OSHA’s proposed six-foot fall protection trigger height. The controversy is over the cost estimates the state paid an outside consultant to provide. The Standard Regulatory Impact Assessment was conducted on behalf …
California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health is investigating a Bakersfield workplace fatality that could be from heat illness. According to the Division, an employee of Dependable Pool Service had completed a workday of cleaning pools “when he suffered a possible heat stroke in the company parking lot.” He was taken to a local hospital, …
Revisions to the High Voltage Electrical Safety Orders that could save workers’ lives have adopted by the Cal/OSH Standards Board and will take effect later this year. The board says it needs to correct some technical and editorial rules from a 2018 rulemaking project to update the safety orders on electric power generation, transmission and …
Excavation incidents are some of the most serious in construction, as evidenced by several high-profile cases in recent years. This week is Trench Safety Stand-Down Week so designated by the National Utility Contractors Association (NUCA). The idea is to focus on preventing tragedies. See safety tips down below. Here are some of the incidents that …
Having a fall protection program isn’t the same as having an effective one, one California company is learning. The Division of Occupational Safety and Health has cited Nexus Energy Systems for alleged willful and serious violations following an investigation into a December 2018 incident that left a crew lead on a solar installation with serious …
California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health is investigating a workplace fatality as the result of a hazardous materials spill at a Los Banos farm. According to reports, the owner of John Menezes Farms was killed by exposure to an as-yet unidentified chemical. Nine others, including six Merced County sheriff’s deputies, were sent to the …