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 …
Several California employees lost their lives in recent workplace fatality incidents around the state. They include three falls, a struck-by, a machine encounter, a possible poisoning and an avalanche blast gone wrong. Cal/OSHA is investigating all the incidents. The falls were in San Marcos, Stockton and San Jose. In the first incident, an employee of …
The Cal/OSH Standards Board is poised to adopt revisions to requirements for a type of woodworking saw that it deems inadequate, after a public hearing on the proposal generated no comments. Board staff initiated the rule change after reviewing the requirements for underhung and inverted swing cutoff saws, jump saws and others covered by General …
Citing concerns over the feasibility and the cost of implementing a proposed 400% decrease in the permissible exposure limit for wood dust and western red cedar, the chair of the Cal/OSH Standards Board cast a decisive no vote at the Standards Board meeting in San Deigo. “I’m not comfortable with the feasibility,” said Dave Thomas, …