The Cal/OSH Standards Board has posted a revision to a regulatory package that has gone through the public hearing process and is awaiting board approval. Comments on the change are due by March 3. The revision is to “Update and Harmonization of Crane Hand Signals Standards and Illustrations,” which was heard at the January public …
After several advisory meetings, lots of impassioned testimony and expert opinion, the Division of Occupational Safety and Health is ready to start talking about the framework for a possible standard for hotel housekeepers. The Division has called a Feb. 27 meeting in Oakland after releasing a discussion draft of the proposal. Although it is not …
The Division of Occupational Safety and Health has rescheduled its meeting on reforming the standard on repeat violations to March 13 in Oakland. It was originally scheduled for Feb. 19. DOSH has repeatedly been admonished by Fed-OSHA that its definition of “repeat violation” in §334(d) is not as effective as the federal standard. The Cal/OSHA …
The Feb. 7, 2014 issue of Cal-OSHA Reporter, (p. 10795) mentions that the Cal/OSH Standards Board is proposing a change to General Industry Safety Orders §4542 to more “adequately address the hazard of entanglement in commercial vertical food mixers.” The hazard of entanglement in these mixers is not limited to the food industry, because their …
California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health is investigating two recent workplace fatalities, including a crushing death in the Bay Area and a worker who was pinned in the San Diego area. The first incident was on Feb. 13 in San Leandro when a 48-year-old worker for Volvo Construction Equipment and Services was crushed to …
The Construction Employers Association (CEA) honored 40 of its members for safety excellence at a recent luncheon in Pleasant Hill. The Excellence in Safety awards follow the organization’s President’s Safety awards, which were presented in January. To qualify for the former, contractors must have had a total incident rate at least 25% below the industry …
A state task force formed in the wake of the massive August 2012 fire at the Chevron Richmond Refinery has recommended six reforms to enhance safety in California’s petroleum industry. Among them are requirements that facilities implement “inherently safer systems” and conduct mandatory root cause analyses after significant accidents or petroleum releases. The Interagency Working …
California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health has cited a landscaping company in the August 2013 death of a laborer – and brother of the owner – in a fall from a ladder. Heladio Martinez, 50, was gravely injured on Aug. 15 while removing electrical wiring that had been stapled onto the joists of a …