The Cal/OSH Standards Board seeks to make California requirements for bakery oven inspections – there are now none – equivalent to Fed-OSHA standards. The board proposal is the lone subject of a June 19 public hearing in Oakland and now is in a 45-day comment period. The change was requested by the Division of Occupational …
California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health is investigating three recent fatalities, all involving vehicles. Two of the incidents occurred in late April and the other in early May. The deadly incidents began April 28 when a 61-year-old worker at Angelus Block Co. in Orange was crushed by a forklift carrying two tons of concrete …
The Cal/OSH Appeals Board says an administrative law judge (ALJ) was unwarranted in granting an employer 90% penalty relief on a serious-injury reporting citation. Nonetheless, the employer, Sun Valley Skylights, Inc., need not worry. The board granted the same relief, only with different logic. The company was cited for failing to report and was assessed …
Safety Forum of the Inland Empire, formed last year after the American Society of Safety Engineers’ Arrowhead Chapter was disbanded, is alive and thriving, says organizer Gayleen Grigoreas, the Southern California branch manager for Safety Center, Inc. The forum, which meets the third Tuesday of every month, will host Cal/OSHA Consultation Service Regional Manager Mike …
OAKLAND – Vowing to simplify Cal/OSHA’s penalty structure, and make it less onerous for small employers, the Division of Occupational Safety and Health unveiled the outline of a new structure May 6 that would do away with one classification of penalty and reduce initial penalties overall. Gone would be the “regulatory” classification, DOSH Chief Len …
The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) is urging the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to reappoint Dr. John Howard as director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), calling him the most “successful and respected” NIOSH director in its history. In a letter to Michael Leavitt, AIHA …
CROCKETT – Carrying signs with sayings such as “Will work for safety,” “Hey boss, double your profits and work safe,” “Take this job and fix it,” and “Worker safety and health: A right, not a benefit,” 100 or so workers, union organizers and politicians gathered at the terminus of the Al Zampa Bridge to commemorate …
SACRAMENTO – Cal/OSHA appears to be rolling into new regulatory territory after an advisory committee, with some dissent, endorsed the concept of allowing workers to self-propel while on mobile scaffolds. The regulatory change was first proposed in the 1990s, but manufacturer opposition squelched any discussion. One option proposed April 24 was for Cal/OSHA to adopt …