California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) is investigating several workplace fatalities in recent days, including a fall from a hotel project and a homicide in Long Beach. The homicide was April 16 at the Long Beach Memorial Medical Center. Department of Industrial Relations public information officer Erika Monterroza called the incident a “fatality …
The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) is honoring its Greater San Jose Chapter as one of the society’s Chapter Stars for 2007-2008. The award will be presented on June 29 at ASSE’s annual Professional Development Conference in San Antonio, Texas. Award-winners are among the top third percentile among ASSE’s 151 worldwide chapters. San Jose …
The Cal/OSH Standards Board voted 3-2 on April 16 to approve a proposal to update the Construction Safety Orders (CSO) on high-visibility apparel for road workers. But failure to break the four-vote threshold provided an opportunity for the board to table the proposal to address some issues raised by the regulated public and board members …
The Division of Occupational Safety and Health advisory committee tasked with recommending new and revised permissible exposure limits for chemical substances is entering a new phase. The Health Expert Advisory Committee (HEAC) has recommended five chemicals for regulatory action. Now a Feasibility Advisory Committee is slated to meet May 28 in Oakland to study whether …
The questioning wasn’t particularly heated, but it’s fair to say the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) and the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) were on the hot seat this week as they answered questions on heat illness prevention posed by an Assembly Budget Subcommittee. Even though they took no action, legislators took the …
Under a draft proposal by the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, training and medical requirements for sensitizing substances covered by California’s airborne contaminants standard would be contained in a new regulation, General Industry Safety Orders §5179. An advisory committee that has been considering regulatory approaches to these substances will meet to review the draft …
Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) regarding the heat illness prevention standard, General Industry Safety Orders §3395, and how it is to be enforced effectively. Much of the focus has been on its application, especially with the weather turning warmer. Heat waves have already started and we’re less than halfway through spring. Much of …
A San Francisco plaintiff’s attorney who represents the families of two workers killed on the job says the Cal/OSH Appeals Board unevenly and unfairly deals with requests from such parties for “interested party status” in Cal/OSHA citation cases. He is seeking a change in the board’s regulations, or, if necessary, a legislative fix. Kevin Lancaster, …