California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) is investigating the Jan. 27 fatality of a Sonoma County worker from an incident that occurred four days earlier. The incident was at Vino Farms in Santa Rosa on Jan. 23. The employee had finished spraying herbicide in a vineyard and was found to have been run over …
Saying it has become clear that “much more public outreach” is needed and it has become clear that associated costs are higher than anticipated, Fed-OSHA has withdrawn its proposed interpretation on occupational noise hazards. The Feds wanted to clarify the term “feasible engineering controls to make the hearing conservation provisions consistent with the enforcement of …
SAN DIEGO — When Fed-OSHA adopts a rulemaking change, state-plan states such as California must adopt revisions “at least as effective as” (ALEA) the federal version. States may adopt more stringent regulations. But California’s proposed revisions to the General Industry Safety Orders (GISO) on cranes and derricks go far beyond “ALEA” and subject general-industry employers …
DOSH Chief Len Welsh claims that AB 2774 aims to foster communication between the division and employers who abate and prevent serious hazards. Certainly this is a laudable goal. Nevertheless, employers should see that as mostly PR spin. The dialogue that DOSH claims AB 2774 promotes is a sugar high, which over the course of an …
California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) is taking steps to revise its blood lead standard, and will convene an advisory committee to get the ball rolling on Feb. 23 in Oakland. Mounting evidence shows that blood lead levels at lower concentrations than recognized by California’s 30-year-old standard can have significant health effects. The …
Cal/OSH Standards Board unanimously adopted revisions to the General Industry Safety Orders on securing machinery at its Jan. 20 meeting. The revision is based on an Appeals Board Decision After Reconsideration (DAR) in E.L. Yeager Construction Co. in 2007, and a subsequent case, Jensen Precast, Inc., which was based on the DAR. In Yeager, the …
This is the form the Division of Occupational Safety and Health will use to inform employers of its intention to issue a serious violation, which also provides employers a chance to make their case against the citation. Click here for a fresh copy of the form. (Filed by Kevin Thompson in Petaluma)
One worker was killed and two others were hospitalized in critical condition after an incident in a blood plasma tank in Los Angeles’ Atwater Village neighborhood Jan. 21. Cal/OSHA also is investigating several other workplace fatalities in recent days. According to the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH), a worker entered the tank at …