The Division of Occupational Safety and Health effectively will have three deputy chiefs for enforcement in a shakeup at the top. Department of Industrial Relations Director Christine Baker announced the move at the May 8 meeting of the Cal/OSHA Advisory Committee. Meanwhile, the Division is losing another longtime official to retirement, with the announcement that …
In our May 2 article, “California Fatal Final Tally: Up is Still Down,” we stated that California had 12.3% of the nation’s 4,628 workplace fatalities in 2012. The correct percentage is 8%. Our thanks to DOSH’s Eric Berg for pointing out this error.
California’s Office of Administrative Law has given final approval to changes to number of Title 8 safety orders incorporating the Globally Harmonized System of hazard communication into Cal/OSHA standards. The GHS standards were adopted in two packages – those related to safety and others related to health – at the March 20 meeting of the …
One of the few pieces occupational safety and health legislation that became law in 2013 was AB 1202. It requires the Cal/OSH Standards Board to develop a standard for the handling of antineoplastic drugs – chemotherapeutic agents that control or kill cancer cells. Cal/OSHA is taking the first step to implement that law with a June …
Clyde Trombettas, manager of the Division of Occupational Safety and Health’s Process Safety Management Unit, not only has played a key role in developing the new regulations that will guide California refinery safety in the 21st century, he is helping to bring an entire country safety awareness and compliance. Trombettas is creating a safety laws …
Cal/OSHA’s metrics – onsite inspections and total alleged violations – were down for the first three quarters of 2013 from the comparable period in 2012. The lone exception was serious violations, which increased from 2,005 to 2,156. The Division of Occupational Safety and Health Program Office released the statistics. The 5,841 onsite inspections were down …
OAKLAND – Under reforms already underway by the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, the Process Safety Management Unit will increase the number of hours it devotes to refinery inspections 17-fold. Meanwhile, the 20-year-old PSM standard is undergoing a substantial rewrite. The regulatory package is expected to be formally unveiled this fall. It could be …
A die-casting machine used to make high-end Tesla Motors electric cars had a defective safety interlock bar and a crew failed to follow proper procedure. The failures lead to an accident in which three workers were splattered with molten aluminum, requiring hospitalization. The Division of Occupational Safety and Health has cited Tesla for several alleged …