Blog Archives

Tree Safety Means Not Going Out on a Limb – Here’s One Pro’s Tips

Tree work injuries and fatalities are among the most common safety issues California experiences. Each year, many workers fall victim to the multiple hazards posed by this vital yet dangerous work. But one longtime Sonoma County employer has managed over almost four decades to keep his workers safe while keeping the county’s bountiful trees cut … Read More »

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Settlements in Electrocution, Double Amputation Cases

Cal/OSHA and two employers have reached agreements in citation cases following a fatality and a double amputation. In the fatality, the employer will pay all of the proposed penalties. But in the amputation, hefty penalties were pared down to a mere fraction of that originally proposed. The fatality, an electrocution, was in Corona in March … Read More »

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Three Workers Killed – Two Crushed, One Struck by Truck

The latest California workplace fatalities include two workers who were crushed and a third who was killed in a highway “cone zone” incident. Cal/OSHA is investigating the first two, and the third is under the jurisdiction of the California Highway Patrol. Here’s what happened: In Long Beach, 28-year-old Stevaughn Matthews, a maintenance employee for the … Read More »

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Farmworker Dies – Heart or Heat?

A Sacramento Valley farm laborer died in late August in moderately high temperatures. Cal/OSHA notes that the high temperature that day was 88ºF and says preliminary indications are the cause was a “possible heart attack.” The employee of Gonzales Farm Labor LLC was operating a sweeper in an orchard in Maxwell when he succumbed.   … Read More »

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Letters to the Editor (4)

Dear Editor: The latest Cal-OSHA Reporter (“Cal/OSHA: Adopt Fed Silica Rules,” p. 11543), an article that has a heading  advocating that Cal/OSHA maintain its current standards rather than adopting the federal OSHA regulations. Cal/OSHA updates its regulations more frequently than Fed-OSHA does, mainly because of the federal bureaucracy and all the hoops Fed-OSHA has to jump … Read More »

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J.F. Shea Ahead of the Safety Curve on Remote Highway Project

A half-mile highway project in a sparsely populated area doesn’t sound particularly challenging. But the hazards on the Collins Curve project along state Highway 299, near the town of Burnt Ranch out in Trinity County, make this a very long half mile, indeed. For its efforts and exemplary safety performance, the contractor, J.F. Shea Construction, … Read More »

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Cal/OSHA to Target Manure-Pits

While there hasn’t been an agricultural manure-pit fatality in California since 2008 Cal/OSHA has asked the Standards Board to begin work on a revised standard to strengthen existing requirements for such facilities. The move comes to light as a recent fatality in another state underscores the danger of working around such pits and tanks, which … Read More »

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Indoor Heat Illness Bill Goes to Governor; IIPP Legislation Dies

The legislature in its so-called infinite wisdom has acted on two more safety bills. One was killed and one sent to the governor for signature or veto.  Both are considered by some to be job killer bills and more encouragement for employers to leave California. The one that passed will, if not vetoed, require Cal/OSHA … Read More »

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