California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) is investigating three workplace fatalities in two days at the end of July. Two of the fatalities happened on July 27. Near the Humboldt County town of Bridgeville, an employee of 3 Phase Line Construction, a contractor to Pacific Gas & Electric Co., fell about 80 feet …
Ever since a 1980s-era Decision After Reconsideration by the Cal/OSH Appeals Board, provisions in the General Industry Safety Orders that protect workers from the dangers of rotating parts and outside obstructions of cranes have excluded oilers and other crane crew members. But recent federal changes to cranes and derricks standard and subsequent California amendments have …
Among the latest settlements agreed to by the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) and employers in citation cases, and approved by administrative law judges, is a more than 90% penalty reduction in a 2010 case in which a tree worker was killed after being pulled into a chipper. The Cal/OSH Appeals Board releases …
This week’s Decisions section of Cal-OSHA Reporter features digests of two cases in which administrative law judges vacated willful violations alleged by the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH). An ALJ has dismissed a willful serious repeat violation and $70,000 penalty against National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. (NASSCO) in San Diego for an alleged violation …
Research from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) suggests that providing sick leave to workers in industries with high risks “could contribute the most to reducing occupational injuries.” But the study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, calls for additional research to demonstrate “the business value of introducing or expanding …
Two serious injuries within about a month of each other at a Fontana food-processing company following a 2010 incident have prompted California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) to issue a new round of citations, including repeat and failure-to-abate violations, with penalties in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. On Dec. 23, 2011, a …
Cal/OSHA is investigating the latest incident involving roadway workers after two suspected drunken drivers collided with each other on Interstate 405, killing two employees of All American Asphalt and injuring another. The July 21 “cone zone” incident in Torrance happened in the early morning hours when the vehicles collided in the construction zone, then overturned, killing …
A security company that was the subject of a Cal/OSHA citation because its guards did not have easy access to a restroom has convinced the Standards Board that its administrative controls are equivalent to the applicable regulation. Guardsmark, LLC, which provides security services at the Quest Diagnostics facility in San Juan Capistrano, was cited in …