The July 8 death of an agricultural worker from possible heat illness is one of five suspected heat deaths under investigation by California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH). The latest fatality was in Blythe, where the temperature was up to 107°F, with relative humidity as high as 65%. The worker, an employee of C. …
By a majority vote following a public hearing, the following revisions to a Title 8 safety orders have been adopted by Cal/OSH Standards Board. They have been approved by the Office of Administrative Law and now are in the California Code of Regulations. CRANES AND OTHER HOISTING EQUIPMENT: Revisions to Construction Safety Orders §1610, …
California’s Division of Occupational Safety (DOSH) has temporarly stopped considering permissible exposure limits for additional chemicals and will instead concentrate on recommendations already in the pipeline, the agency announced. “It is a resource issue,” says DOSH Senior Safety Engineer Bob Barish. The move will provide DOSH additional time for staff to work on rulemaking to …
Tom Mitchell, who recently retired after 10 years at Cal/OSH Standards Board and more than 30 in state service, left with the title senior safety engineer. “But at heart, he’s an industrial hygienist,” said board Principal Safety Engineer Mike Manieri at a June 29 sendoff. Attendees at the retirement luncheon donned Hawaiian garb and much …
A worker’s horrific death last November in a brush chipper was caused by the failure of a stop bar to work properly. Ironically, it might have happened because the ill-fated employee hit his head on the stop bar during the incident. California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) has cited Traverso Tree Service for …
One of the positive legacies of the 1999 Tosco Avon refinery disaster is Cal/OSHA’s Process Safety Management (PSM) Unit. Since that tragedy, in which four workers were killed and another was severely and permanently injured, California’s refining industry has been a model of safety, thanks largely to the efforts of the PSM Unit. With offices …
California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) has named Deborah Gold acting deputy chief for health, a position that has been vacant for the better part of a decade. DOSH also announced that Suzanne Marria, former acting chief deputy director, Department of Industrial Relations, has been appointed special counsel to the Cal/OSHA chief. Gold, a …
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Winifred Smith has granted summary judgment to an HIV-positive adult-film performer known as “Patient Zero,” and barred California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) from obtaining information about her from a medical testing organization, citing her privacy rights. In related legal action, the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate …