Blog Archives

Controversy Over Wildfire Smoke Emergency Rule Petition to Cal/OSHA

The Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) and the Cal/OSH Standards Board have diverging opinions on how to approach a petition by labor groups for an emergency regulation to protect outdoor workers from wildfire smoke. The controversy is likely to come to a head at the board’s March 21 meeting in Pasadena. It also … Read More »

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New OSH Legislation Surfaces

The California legislative season is still on simmer, but three new bills of interest to the occupational safety and health community have found their way to the statehouse. AB 457, by Assemblyman Bill Quirk (D-Hayward), would set a time limit for Cal/OSHA to complete rulemaking on its long-stalled update to the lead standards. AB 203, … Read More »

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It’s Time to Electronically Report

Employers are one-third through the three-month period during which they must post in the workplace their Cal/OSHA Form 300A, the summary of injuries and illnesses for 2018. Tomorrow, March 2, is another deadline: Employers must electronically post the 300A to the Fed-OSHA portal. Many, but not all, employers are required to post the summary. The … Read More »

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More Workplace Fatalities – Mar 1, 2019

Three more California workers lost their lives in recent accidents, including a fall, a crushing and a struck-by. The fall was in Napa, where a laborer for LeafFilter Gutter Protection was working from a ladder approximately 20 feet high, but fell off. The employee died in a hospital two days later. In Merced, an employee … Read More »

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Employers Pay 50 Cents on the Dollar in Fatality Settlements

The Division of Occupational Safety and Health and three California employers have settled their cases in workplace fatality incidents and all three business will pay about half of the penalties proposed by the agency. These settlements demonstrate why lawyers recommend that employers almost always appeal Cal/OSHA citations. Wehah Farm, also known as Lundberg Family Farms, … Read More »

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Cal/OSHA Rules for Hydrogen-Powered Industrial Trucks

The Cal/OSH Standards Board believes it is time to establish regulations for a new generation of industrial truck – those powered by hydrogen. It is convening an advisory committee meeting on April 11th in Sacramento to discuss language that it has drafted. And given recent developments its timing appears pretty good. Anheuser-Busch has ordered some … Read More »

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Hotel Association Sues Long Beach Over Housekeeper Rules

A new law passed by Long Beach voters in 2018 usurps Cal/OSHA’s recently enacted hotel housekeeper’s standard and deprives employers in the city of due process, according to a lawsuit filed by the California Hotel & Lodging Association (CHLA). The Cal/OSHA standard was controversial in itself and was vigorously debated by stakeholders from 2012 through … Read More »

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