According to AFL-CIO’s latest “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect” report, California ranked 12th in the nation in workplace fatalities in 2005, a ranking significantly lower than its sixth-place showing in 2004. The 2005 statistics (the last year for which data are available) show California with 465 workplace fatalities, a rate of 2.7 …
A mechanical engineer has petitioned Cal/OSH Standards Board to change a safety order on gantry crane guarding to provide explicit protection for workers from being run over, contending that a 1995 change was mistaken and might have contributed to at least one injury. Richard Grossman, P.E., of Woodland Hills, notes that General Industry Safety Orders …
In our June 8 story about Cal/OSHA’s citations to Pouk & Steinle, Inc., in the Dec. 6, 2006, fatal incident in Upland, we stated that the deceased worker was an employee of Southern California Edison. That is not correct. The worker, David Wayne Jenkins, was employed by Pouk & Steinle. We apologize for the error.
A Cal-OSHA Reporter reader recently alerted us to a number of departures of administrative law judges (ALJs) on the Cal-OSH Appeals Board. “Apparently, Judge Barbara Ferguson has quit,” the reader says. “I understand Judge Robert Villalovos is going to quit. Judge Jane Preese quit 2-3 months ago. Now Judge Barbara Miller is retiring. Is there …
COALINGA – What’s the worst thing an employer can do when a workplace suffers a fatality or serious injury? Dummy up an Injury and Illness Prevention Program or otherwise falsify records, according to a panel at June 12’s Agricultural Labor and Employment Summit. The seminar, held at Harris Ranch, deep in the Central Valley, explored …
Fed-OSHA is seeking comments on a proposal to update the federal power press standard, which has not been revised since the agency’s inception. The Feds issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the June 4, 2007, Federal Register. The existing standard, 29 CFR Part 1910, is based on the 1971 American National Standards Institute …
By a majority vote following a public hearing, the following Title 8 revisions have been adopted by Cal/OSH Standards Board. They have been approved by the Office of Administrative Law and now are in the California Code of Regulations. GUARDING OF MEAT CUTTING BAND SAW BLADES: Revisions to General Industry Safety Orders §4543 were heard …
Summer weather is heating up in California, and Cal/OSHA is urging all employers to revisit Injury and Illness Prevention Programs and emergency response procedures to prepare for heat waves. Under the state’s new heat illness prevention regulation, employers must take four basic steps to prevent heat illness at all outdoor worksites including developing and implementing …