Cal/OSHA and several employers have reached agreements in fatality cases dating back to 2013. In two of the cases, the proposed penalties were eliminated entirely. The vast majority of cases are settled out for less. These outcomes are examples of why defense attorneys advise employers always to appeal any Cal/OSHA citations. Following are some of the …
A California Assembly bill that would require Cal/OSHA to regulate models passed its first legislative test on April 6. when the Labor and Employment Committee approved AB 2539, 5-1. The bill now moves on to the Appropriations Committee. It is a draft law that unions favor. The same day, the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations …
Wade Obermann is an old-school safety professional with a 21st -century outlook on the profession. Old school: He has been with the same general contractor for more than 30 years, in an age when many workers change jobs more often than they change vehicles. New school: He has a message for today’s safety pros: if …
A San Diego-area worker is dead after an incident in which it appears he drowned at a Holtville worksite. Two other workplace fatalities involved vehicle incidents, including the death of an 80-year-old man, and a fourth worker died in a Northern California field under as-yet unexplained circumstances. The apparent drowning victim was an employee of …
In a highly anticipated ruling on labor law, the California Supreme Court says that employers must allow employees to sit when the nature of the work allows it. The case provides a precedent for several class-action lawsuits by employees against employers in California and resolves questions about a state wage order. The question is will …
Cal/OSHA is investigating several workplace fatalities in recent days, including an incident in Southern California in which two workers were stabbed, one fatally. In two other instances, workers died after being hit by vehicles that had not been properly secured. The stabbing incident was at a 7-11 convenience store in Valley Village, where a female …
California’s Office of Administrative Law has given the green light to two Cal/OSHA regulatory changes. Both rule changes are effective now. One of them is a Horcher adoption based on a Fed-OSHA update to a national consensus standard on warning signs for pulp, paper and paperboard mills. The other aligns the Cal/OSHA regulation on circular …
The Cal/OSH Standards Board is taking another stab at new draft regulatory language that would require employers to account for and provide communication for workers out in the field by themselves. The board is reconvening an advisory committee on April 26. In 2015, employer representatives told the Board that the proposal, requested by Operating Engineers …