Cal/OSHA is accusing two Southern California employers of making changes to a food facility that created conditions conducive to carbon monoxide poisoning, then ignoring workers when they complained of illness. In one case, the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) says, when a worker reported being so sick he was slumped over the steering …
Even employers with good safety programs can run into trouble if they don’t account for situations their workers can encounter at multiemployer worksites. Meanwhile, jobs where safety is an afterthought run a high risk of safety disasters. Those are the lessons of two 2010 and 2011 California incidents investigated by the Fatality Assessment and Control …
While the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) is busy replenishing its ranks after years of state-mandated budget cutbacks, its physical presence is shrinking with the shuttering of two offices, one each in Northern and Southern California. On April 1, the division closed its Monrovia district office, redistributing its personnel to nearby offices. Cal/OSHA also …
As California heads into the heat season, a number of organizations are offering free heat illness prevention seminars up and down the state. AgSafe, in partnership with Cal/OSHA Consultation Service and several other agricultural organizations, is holding two such seminars in the next two weeks. Later in the month and running through June, State Compensation …
Fed-OSHA has cited Anaheim-based Bridgford Foods for almost two dozen alleged violations at its Chicago meat processing plant, including four repeat violations. The agency proposes more than $118,000 in penalties against the employer. The Chicago facility received special attention as part of Fed-OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program, “which mandates follow-up inspections of recalcitrant employers that …
The 17th meeting of Cal/OSHA’s Health Expert Advisory Committee (HEAC) on permissible exposure limits is set for May 31 in Oakland. The Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) says the meeting will be the final one in the current round of the HEAC process that began in 2007. The agenda includes: A review of …
MODESTO — California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) traveled to the state’s food basket — the Central Valley — to gather food for thought on equipment that is in common use in the valley but is not considered legal by Cal/OSHA. DOSH wanted input from the agricultural community on ag worker transport units, …
More than 70 workers were sickened and one was admitted to the hospital March 30 after they were exposed to carbon dioxide at a food processing plant. California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) is investigating the incident at Ghiringhelli Specialty Foods in Vallejo. The workers began feeling ill, with difficulty breathing, after what has …