Blog Archives

Legislative Update – Apr 18, 2025

Several bills of interest to California’s occupational safety and health community are moving through their respective houses of origin. Here’s the status of the latest legislation. AB 694, by Assemblyman Tina McKinnor (D-Inglewood), seeks to develop a “pipeline program” for the Cal/OSHA inspection force, given its longstanding vacancy rate and difficulty finding enough qualified inspectors. … Read More »

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High-Dollar Cases in Latest Settlements

Among the hundreds of settlements to Cal/OSHA cases approved by the Appeals Board in March are two involving fatalities and serious injuries that had hundreds of thousands of dollars in proposed penalties at stake. Here’s how those, and other significant cases, settled out. Alhambra Foundry, a metalworks and fabrication company, has agreed to pay $147,350 … Read More »

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Debra Lee Confirmed as DOSH Chief

Debra Lee, a 30-plus-year employee of Cal/OSHA’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, has been confirmed as its Chief. The California Senate Rules Committee approved her 5-0, and the full Senate followed up with a 33-0 vote. “I joined Cal/OSHA as an industrial hygienist back in 1994, wanting to be an agent of change,” she … Read More »

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Cal/OSHA’s PPE ‘Horcher’

The Cal/OSHA Standards Board has moved quickly to adopt a Fed-OSHA final rule created during the last days of the previous administration. The rule is simple: It requires that personal protective equipment (PPE) is of safe design and construction and properly fits each employee. It is being adopted as a “Horcher” rule, meaning it is … Read More »

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Safety is Cardinal Rule at This Glass House

  The 65th current participant in Cal/OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) is a facility that tempers glass—lots of it—with hazards that could make a safety manager temper their career choice. Fortunately, Cardinal CT in Moreno Valley has engineered out its main safety threats and implemented procedures to address the ones that cannot be engineered. The … Read More »

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Autonomous Talks: Data & Regulatory Overreach

One of the main bones of contention in the debate overregulating autonomous equipment in California farming is the reliability or amount of data from Cal/OSHA’s single experimental variance. Agricultural employers say autonomous equipment is the future of farming in this state, and the current Cal/OSHA regulation is antiquated. They want to use driverless tractors freely, … Read More »

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Workplace Fatality Update – Apr 11, 2025

There are nine new California workplace fatalities. Three are from falls, and three relate to struck-by incidents. In McFarland, an employee of agricultural employer Jakov P. Dulcich & Sons stepped off a platform elevated more than 20 feet and fell to the concrete floor below while in a cold storage room. The company has an … Read More »

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Safety the Perfect Rx for this Hospital Project

General contractor Rudolph and Sletten’s latest project, which has been certified in Cal/OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program for Construction, combines complexity, patient safety considerations, and the typical hazards of multi-story construction. The company’s secret weapon is its safety culture, which emphasizes mentoring and engaging trade partners. Not only has R&S achieved another in a sizable list … Read More »

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