MODESTO – Getting into Cal/OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) is difficult. It’s probably the hardest such program in the nation. But often, maintaining a VPP-level program is even more difficult. It means the participant must continually look for ways to improve safety at its facility, even if its safety program is already top-notch. At Frito-Lay’s …
The Division of Occupational Safety and Health has cited a San Diego-area employer for six serious and numerous other alleged violations following an investigation into a June incident in which a large flywheel spinning at almost 6,000 RPM broke apart, injuring four workers. The Division says the employer, Quantum Energy Storage Corp., based in Poway, …
California’s occupational injuries and illnesses remain at levels “markedly lower” than those more than a decade ago, although cases remain high among Latino workers. They accounted for almost 60% of cases with days away from work, according to the 2014 Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses. The stats show 460,700 injuries and illnesses last year, …
OAKLAND – The Division of Occupational Safety and Health is targeting June 2016 to complete work on a controversial standard some say will protect hotel housekeepers from debilitating injuries, and send the language to the Cal/OSH Standards Board for formal rulemaking. Steve Smith, the manager of the Research and Standards-Health Unit at the Division, made …
Two Californians recently suffered workplace fatalities in incidents related to vehicles. The Division of Occupational Safety and Health is investigating the deaths. First was an incident in La Mirada involving an employee of 24 Hour Tire Sales and Service. He was crushed to death while working on a forklift. The worker was changing a tire …
Cal/OSHA alleges that the Kaiser Foundation’s medical offices in Vallejo willfully ignored bloodborne pathogens threats to workers tasked with disposing of containers with used sharps. In three cases, workers were stuck by needles when they had to reach into the boxes. The Division of Occupational Safety and Health seeks almost $150,000 in penalties in the …
When it comes to overhead electrical safety, distance can mean the difference between life and death, as a worker for Santa Maria’s M&W Pumps sadly found out when a pump hoist he was working from made contact with a hot line. The worker was killed, and another severely injured in the incident. The Division of …
The Cal/OSH Standards Board has published a proposed regulatory amendment that would eliminate a rather illogical safety requirement – that employers provide catwalks for employees working in attics and other ceiling spaces. The comment period for proposal ends with a public hearing late in January 2016, in Southern California. Board staff took on the rulemaking …