48 COR 40-8375 [¶23,090R]
CONSTRUCTION SAFETY ORDERS – INJURY AND ILLNESS PREVENTION PROGRAM (IIPP) Cal. Code Regs, tit. 8, § 1509(a) (2021) – Employer implemented its IIPP as to the specific requirements of §3203(a)(2). That an employee unexpectedly violated Employer’s internal safety rule, despite having been told and trained not to climb a shoring tower without fall protection, did not alone establish a violation. However, Employer failed to implement its IIPP when it did not conduct an inspection and hazard analysis that addressed risks and hazards associated with using one scaffold plank to erect shoring towers, in violation of §3203(a)(4). Employer failed to identify the unsafe condition of standing on a single 10-inch wide scaffold plank while working at elevated heights. CONSTRUCTION SAFETY ORDERS – SCAFFOLDS, GENERAL REQUIREMENTS, ERECTION AND DISMANTLING OF SCAFFOLDS AND FALSEWORK PERFORMED UNDER SUPERVISION AND DIRECTION OF QUALIFIED PERSON Cal. Code Regs, tit. 8, § 1637(k)(1) (2021) – Employer’s supervisor was qualified to supervise the erection of shoring towers. However, based on his ongoing failure to follow and enforce Employer’s safety rules regarding the width of scaffold planks used during erection of the towers, the Appeals Board declined to conclude that he adequately directed an employee who fell from one of the towers, or that he demonstrated the ability to safely perform all assigned duties. Thus, Employer violated the safety order’s requirement that erection and dismantling of scaffolds or falsework be performed under the supervision and direction of a qualified person. CONSTRUCTION SAFETY ORDERS – SCAFFOLDS, GENERAL REQUIREMENTS Cal. Code Regs, tit. 8, § 1637(a) (2021) – Employer’s practice of allowing certain employees to use a single, 10-inch plank, placed between the rungs of a shoring tower at a height of six feet, three inches, while wearing fall protection equipment, constituted a violation of the safety order’s scaffold requirement. The plank was being used as a platform, and the cited safety order applies to shoring towers.Digest of COSHAB’s Decision After Reconsideration dated February 19, 2021, Inspection No. 1206788.
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