The Division of Occupational Safety and Health is seeking more than $52,000 in penalties against Hanwha L&C USA. The proposed fines are in connection to a 2018 incident in which an employee suffered a crushed foot. The incident occurred as a crew was handling stone slabs carried on a forklift equipped with a boom attachment. …
A Napa Valley wine winemaker faces almost $38,000 in potential Cal/OSHA penalties following a fatality in its vineyard during the 2018 harvest. Leon Marcelo, 49, a 24-year employee of De Coninck Vineyards, was killed on October 29 when his sweatshirt became wrapped around an unguarded shaft on a harvesting machine. The Division of Occupational Safety …
One quarter of adults who wound up in emergency rooms for asthma were there because they were exposed to asthma-inducing substances in the workplace. A pilot study by the California Department of Public Health provides these preliminary results. Work on the study by the Work-Related Asthma Prevention Program (WRAPP) will continue this summer. “We hope …
Most employers appeal their Cal/OSHA penalties, and in a large majority of those cases see their penalties reduced during settlement, sometimes dramatically. Here are some of the results in significant safety cases brought by the Division of Occupational Safety and Health. Fireworks Fatality Fireworks & Stage FX America, based in Lakeside, will pay $19,760 of …
Four employees were killed and another seriously injured in recent Southern California workplace incidents. Cal/OSHA is investigating them. At the Port of Los Angeles in Long Beach, two maintenance workers for Fenix Marine Services Terminal were changing a tire on a top loader when the tire exploded, killing Thomas Santoyo, 58, and severely injuring coworker …
Stakeholders urged the Division of Occupational Safety and Health to create an appendix to the upcoming emergency regulation on protecting outdoor workers from wildfire smoke to help employers understand what they must do to comply, and provide clear directions to protect workers. One commenter said the appendix will “clear up confusion” among employers, and ensure …
Revisions to the High Voltage Electrical Safety Orders generated no comments at a Cal/OSH Standards Board public hearing, but that doesn’t mean the changes are trivial. They literally could save a worker’s life. The board says it needs to correct some technical and editorial rules from a 2018 rulemaking project to update the safety orders …