Blog Archives

Controlling Employers-“Put Your Hand on the IIPP and Say Amen”

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 … Read More »

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You Report

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 … Read More »

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Conveyance Bill Amended

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 … Read More »

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New Kind of Crane

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 … Read More »

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Safety, Thai-Style

ORANGE — Sometimes it takes seeing how people do things on the other side of the world to drive home the progress we have made here in the United States on worker safety and health. Nils Wright, former editor of Cal-OSHA Reporter’s sister publication, Workers’ Comp Executive, recently forwarded this photo and commentary on the … Read More »

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Cal/OSHA Stands Behind Bay Bridge Joint Venture, Safety Partnership

Welders on the increasingly troubled San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge project again are raising safety questions about the joint venture in charge of the new eastern span. Almost one year ago, laid-off welders alleged they had been exposed to hazardous welding fumes, and after the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) investigated, it agreed. Recently, … Read More »

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What First Responders Need

CONCORD — A few months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., California’s Occupational Health Branch (OHB), part of the Department of Health Services, sponsored a symposium to look at lessons for rescue and recovery workers who respond to disasters, both natural and man-made. The conclusions? Disaster workers … Read More »

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Noise Committee Meets April 22

ORANGE — Will Cal/OSHA succeed in removing hearing conservation exemptions for several noisy industries? A long-stalled advisory committee will meet next week to determine the fate of the controversial proposal. The changes would affect General Industry Safety Orders 5095-5100, which require employers, except agriculture, construction and oil and gas well drilling and servicing operations, to … Read More »

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