By a majority vote following public hearings, the following revisions to Title 8 safety orders have been adopted by the Cal/OSH Standards Board. They have been approved by the Office of Administrative Law and now are in the California Code of Regulations. FIRE PROTECTION IN SHIPYARD EMPLOYMENT: Revisions to Ship Building, Ship Repairing and Ship …
Talk about hiding in plain sight. It took a tip to trigger investigators from California’s Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, Cal/OSHA and the U.S. Department of Labor to raid a rundown, garbage-strewn house where a reported 29 farmworkers lived in squalor less than a mile from an upscale golf course in the Sonoma County town …
California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health is investigating the deaths of several workers in incidents around the state in recent days, including three electrocutions. April 7: An employee of Heat & Control, Inc., of Salinas, was electrocuted while doing electrical work on a piece of packaging equipment. April 8: A worker for Caza Drilling …
Did California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) fail to properly investigate welders’ continuing complaints about exposure to hazardous fumes on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge eastern-span project? No, says Dean Fryer, Cal/OSHA spokesperson for the Department of Industrial Relations. The Division determined that two welders’ complaints were not likely to lead to violations, …
CONCORD — Construction professionals packed a meeting room in this Contra Costa County city to try to get their arms around what they see as an unfair and unnecessary Cal/OSHA policy – citing so-called “controlling employers” on multiemployer worksites. “Controlling Employer Responsibilities,” held in late March, featured Vicky Heza, deputy chief for field enforcement for …
CONCORD — In response to our April 8 item, “When in Doubt, Report,” p. 8411, we received the following email from a Bay Area risk and safety manager. The manager asked that both she and her employer remain anonymous. We reprint it here because it raises additional questions on an important subject. We invite readers …
CONCORD — AB 1500, which would change legal requirements on manlifts used in agriculture, has been amended and has been scheduled for an April 20 hearing before the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee. Existing law requires that any person who without supervision erects, constructs, installs, alters, tests, maintains, services, removes or dismantles a conveyance be …
ORANGE — Construction industry professionals and Cal-OSHA Reporter got a firsthand look last week at an innovative, new self-erecting crane that soon could be commonplace on California work sites. The Manitowoc Potain lgo MA13 is portable and unfolds in seven minutes, needing only two attendants and a remote control. The crane is safer than other …