For 10 years, Vicky Heza guided the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) enforcement unit. Now she will oversee the Cal/OSHA Consultation Unit, which aims to help employers develop safety and health programs that prevent injuries and illnesses. Gov. Schwarzenegger recently named Christopher Lee as DOSH deputy chief for Cal/OSHA enforcement, replacing Heza, a …
California’s Cal/OSH Standards Board members work without pay, volunteering their time to advance the cause of occupational safety and health in California. Most of them spend countless personal hours poring over rulemaking records to understand the issues and prepare for votes or public hearings. Active board members participate in sometimes mind-numbing variance hearings and intelligently …
The Cal/OSH Standards Board on July 16 approved changes to the General Industry Safety Orders (GISO) to ensure that employees have adequate emergency communications and to correct a reference to a national consensus standard on protective footwear. The revisions to GISO §3400 are based on a petition sent anonymously from the spouse of a worker …
The Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) recently issued citations to three employers following investigations into workplace fatalities due to a vehicle maintenance mishap, a fall from a ladder and a rollover incident. Vehicle Maintenance Mishap DOSH has cited CR&R, Inc., of Perris, in the Dec. 10, 2008, death of an employee who was …
California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) issued citations for an alleged 21,158 Title 8 violations in calendar year 2008, a 3.5% increase over 2007. The jump in alleged violations follows significantly increased DOSH on-site investigations, including rises in accident- or complaint-based inspections. DOSH initiated just over 10,000 on-site inspections, up from 9,259 in …
A worker for the Desert Sands Unified School District in Indio was electrocuted July 20 after cutting through an electrical box at a middle school in the desert community. The incident occurred at Glenn Middle School when the worker was working in a 480-volt electrical box cutting plastic electrical ties and inadvertently cut through a …
By a majority vote following public hearings, the Cal/OSH Standards Board has adopted the following revisions to Title 8 safety orders. They have been approved by the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) and now are in the California Code of Regulations. VERTICAL TANDEM LIFTS (VTLs): Additions to General Industry Safety Orders §3466 were heard at …
After another defeat in its quest to revise the state’s heat illness prevention standard, the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) says it will reconvene stakeholders with an eye to permanent changes in General Industry Safety Orders §3395. DOSH Chief Len Welsh made the announcement July 20 in a conference call reactivating the Heat …