One of Cal/OSHA’s most important regulatory proposals of 2007 – one on dust exposure during masonry work – has seen a number of changes this year aimed at clarification and addressing stakeholder concerns. The changes resulted in a 15-day notice of proposed modifications by the Cal/OSH Standards Board. Comments on the changes are due by …
Progressive Inflammatory Neuropathy Explained After reading our May 16 story, “Cal/OSHA Warns Pork Processors on Syndrome Caused by Brain Drain” (p. 9190), reader Paul Burnett offers the following explanation of progressive inflammatory neuropathy, the disease that has been identified in pork-processing workers who have the unenviable task of removing brains from slaughtered animals. He writes: …
The Legislature has reacted swiftly to the May 16 collapse of a portable ride at the Calaveras County Fair that injured several patrons. Two state Assembly and Senate subcommittees voted to approve a California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) request for additional inspectors for its Amusement Ride Unit, May 21 and 23, respectively. …
The Stanislaus County District Attorney has filed a felony complaint against Hershey Chocolate in Oakdale for a lack of lockout/tagout procedures that led to the March 2007 amputation of a worker’s arm in an Oakdale plant. Cal/OSHA citations are the basis for the criminal complaint, brought under Labor Code §6425(a), charging that Hershey “did willfully, …
LIVERMORE – A regulatory approach to a safety problem can take you only so far at times. Then, industry leaders must step in and take a leadership role. Such appears to be the case with the nail gun issue. Construction industry representatives fought for a regulatory revision that they thought could address the problem of …
The Cal/OSH Standards Board has officially published rulemaking changes aimed at preventing rigged loads hoisted by cranes from falling on workers, and helping employers comply with rules of mechanical refrigeration. The publication started a 45-day comment period that ends with a public hearing in Costa Mesa on July 17. PROPERLY RIGGED (HANDLING LOADS): Proposed revisions …
Among 37 variances voted on by the Cal/OSH Standards Board at its May 15 meeting (most dealt with elevators) only two actually addressed workplace safety. The board denied a variance to a Stockton company on a 60-year-old press brake to allow it to be operated without the guarding required by General Industry Safety Orders (GISO) …
SAN DIEGO – Proposed changes to Construction Safety Orders (CSO) on construction personnel hoist car-top operations and the General Industry Safety Orders (GISO) on agricultural tractors received no comments, either written or verbal, during a 45-day comment period that ended with a Standards Board public hearing May 15. As a result, the board is set …