Prompted by 2016 legislation, Cal/OSHA will begin advisory committee work on a new standard to prevent indoor heat illness. The big question in this issue is what industries will be fully included in the regulation, which is now mandated by law. Currently, Cal/OSHA regulates heat illness only in outdoor work settings. That standard was crafted …
The Sonoma County District Attorney has charged a construction company and its former foreman with six criminal counts of violating the state Labor Code after a 2015 incident in which a worker was killed after being crushed by an almost four-ton concrete pipe. The project was to replace water piping along Highway 101 south of …
California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health is investigating three workplace fatalities in farm country, although all three look more like natural-causes deaths. DOSH routinely investigates farm-related deaths for a potential connection to heat illness. All three happened in late January. In Edison, an employee of Larry Gonzales Farm Labor Contractor collapsed after returning to …
The Cal/OSH Standards Board has issued a 15-day notice of proposed modification on its proposed wood dust permissible exposure limit, even though a board vote failed on the original proposal in January. It seems the rulemaking effort isn’t officially dead yet. The one-year time limit for adopting a formal proposal expires on March 4, giving …
Almost three years after Fed-OSHA revised its rules to protect workers in the electric power generation, transmission and distribution industry, Cal/OSHA has followed suit. The package also covers electrical protective equipment. The 182-page proposal, including appendices, is in a comment period that ends on March 16 with a public hearing in Sacramento. The rulemaking effort …
Attention employers: February starts the three-month period during which you must post the annual summary of work-related injuries and illnesses, also known as Cal/OSHA Form 300A. Employers must post the summary from February 1 through April 30 for the year 2016. The posting requirement applies to employers with at least 11 employees, with limited exemptions …
Now that’s it’s finished adopting a standard designed to prevent workplace violence in healthcare, Cal/OSHA is considering a companion standard applying to all other California businesses. Ironically, DOSH, which is handling the development process for a potential regulation because it technically would be a health standard, recommended against adopting the petition that started it all. …
Cal/OSHA has granted a variance from Title 8 safety orders for a set of construction personnel hoists that will be installed in three Southern California tunnel projects. The employer needs the variance because the automatic hoists, similar to conventional elevators, are contrary to current requirements for a hoist operator using hand controls to move the …