Blog Archives

Stakeholders Like Battery-Storage Proposal, But Want Extended Life

COSTA MESA – Commenters are lauding the Cal/OSH Standards Board for its “flexible and balanced” approach to modernizing its regulations on storage battery systems, but think the proposal could be strengthened in several areas.                                                        A reference to “qualified employees,” a requirement on storage racks that one stakeholder said could cost employers significant money, and a … Read More »

This content is only available to premium subscribers. Please login here log in

Read More »

DOSH Investigating 5 Fatalities

Five workers lost their lives in the last days of December and the first week of January. Cal/OSHA is investigating these incidents to determine how they happened and if their employers bear responsibility. Two of the incidents involved electrocution, another two involved workers being pinned or crushed and the fifth happened to an emergency responder. … Read More »

This content is only available to premium subscribers. Please login here log in

Read More »

DOSH Cites Employers in Electrocutions – Alleges Lack of Preparation

Two Southern California electrocutions within two days of each other were due to the employers’ lack of preparation to have employees working around energized electrical lines, Cal/OSHA alleges in citing Five Star Plastering of Laguna Hills and Winlup Painting, based in Los Angeles. In Five Star’s case, the Division of Occupational Safety and Health has … Read More »

This content is only available to premium subscribers. Please login here log in

Read More »

Three Views on Abatement Law

One of few pieces of major occupational safety and health legislation signed in the last session has now become law. AB 1634 was the latest and the only successful attempt by labor to change the rules on abatement of serious hazards. In the end, employer groups dropped their opposition after the sponsors agreed to downsize … Read More »

This content is only available to premium subscribers. Please login here log in

Read More »

Injury and Illness Data, Illustrated

What is the California work sector with the highest days away from work, restricted duty and transfer (DART) rate? Which is the lowest? Here are some statistics from the recently released  2013 nonfatal injury and illness data from the state Division of Labor Statistics and Research. The highest DART rate? Nursing and residential care facilities … Read More »

This content is only available to premium subscribers. Please login here log in

Read More »

Joint Venture’s Oakland BART Project is Major Safety Success

The Associated General Contractors of California honor for “Safety Effort of a Project Team” goes to a team, which had, almost unbelievably, only 3 reportable injuries, and zero lost time claims across a 417,000-man-hour public works project. The hazards they faced and managed and their details make it an even more interesting story. More than … Read More »

This content is only available to premium subscribers. Please login here log in

Read More »

We Are America and We are Charlie

By J Dale Debber Publisher We realize from responses that most of our readers and viewers prefer us to stay on the topics we cover for you on a regular basis: occupational heath and safety and workers compensation. Today we must, because of our profession, bring you this representation of the cover of Charlie Hebdo, … Read More »

This content is only available to premium subscribers. Please login here log in

Read More »

Appeals Board Chair Reappointed

Governor Jerry Brown has reappointed Art Carter as chairman of California’s Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board. The 73-year-old Carter has served on the quasi-judicial board since 2009. He was appointed chair in 2011. Carter, of course, has long experience with Cal/OSHA. He was chief of the Division of Occupational Safety and Health and its … Read More »

This content is only available to premium subscribers. Please login here log in

Read More »