Fewer than 10 worker health and safety bills remain in play as the 2017-2018 legislative session progresses. Two of them have passed their houses of origin and seven others have cleared their committees and are being debated by their full chambers. Some still face opposition from employer groups. Here’s the latest on these bills of …
The Cal/OSH Standards Board will convene an advisory committee on July 10 to study the need to update a regulation on laboratory safety. The move is a response to a 2015 petition by the University of California system. The committee will discuss the need to define “laboratory” as used in General Industry Safety Orders §5538 …
Employees at the Tesla Motors factory in Fremont became so concerned about potential hazards at the facility earlier this year that they requested its Cal/OSHA 300 logs. After several attempts, they finally got them and what they found was that the plant had a third more total recordable injuries than the rest of the industry. …
Cal/OSHA’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health is investigating six more workplace fatalities, including two falls. Three of the fatalities might be from natural causes, but the agency must rule out other possibilities or receive confirmation from coroners. The falls were in Fremont and Irvine. In the former case, a roofing laborer employed by L&B …
Three more California workers have died from falls, adding to a long list of such workplace fatalities this year. The Division of Occupational Safety and Health also is investigating three other fatalities that have occurred in recent days. The falls all occurred or were reported in mid-May. In San Ysidro, an employee of Burnworth Plumbing …
Cal/OSHA has another new proposed regulation – this it says to protect hotel housekeepers from musculoskeletal disorders. But a hotel industry representative told the Cal/OSH Standards Board the proposed regs are redundant of existing regulations and would lead to other petitions for “carve outs.” The board should reject the standard, proposed General Industry Safety Orders …
Cal/OSHA is urging employers to prepare for triple-digit temperatures, and the National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention is exhorting everybody to protect his or her skin from ultraviolet rays. May 26 has been designated “Don’t Fry Day.” That’s because the Memorial Day weekend is coming up, the rains are over and the California sun is …
The Cal/OSH Standards Board has published a 15-day notice of proposed modification for forklifts. The rule change governs when forklift operators can leave their lifts while running to load or unload them. The modifications are aimed at narrowing the scope of the proposal, which revises General Industry Safety Orders §3650(t)(17). In its current form, the …