In March, the Cal/OSHA Appeals Board issued a Decision After Reconsideration in the case KPRS Construction Services, reversing an administrative law judge’s decision and restoring $45,000 in penalties against the Brea contractor. The issue was whether KPRS exercised due diligence to correct a hazard that led to an injurious fall to a subcontractor employee. The …
Cal/OSHA’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health has cited more than 20 employers following investigations into workplace fatalities in the latter half of 2025. Here’s a roundup of cases. Camino Real Foods and Elite Force Personnel Services, a staffing firm: Both employers face multiple serious violation charges, including willful-serious characterizations, and more than a quarter …
After a more-than six-year hiatus, Cal/OSHA’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health is reassembling its Health Effects Advisory Committee (HEAC) to study possible revisions to permissible exposure limits (PELs) for airborne contaminants. The committee last met in December 2019 and was supposed to meet again in May 2020, but the meeting was canceled due to …
Another bill is before the California Senate with requirements for Cal/OSHA. This one would require it to consider a regulation to protect outdoor workers along the California border from what the bill calls “transboundary pollution.” SB 1046 would require Cal/OSHA to propose to the Standards Board by January 1st, 2030, a standard covering park rangers, …
Despite the demise of a prominent autonomous tractor company at the heart of experimental variances at two California wineries, Cal/OSHA says the variances remain in place – at least for the time being. The Division of Occupational Safety and Health is evaluating two separate variances involving other autonomous equipment companies. Autonomous agricultural equipment continues to …
Thus sayeth the Bard to the Cal/OSHA Standards Board: Get thee to a regulation! California’s date growers have been using modern safety techniques for date palms since the early part of this century, but only through Cal/OSHA variances. There have been discussions in recent years about a formal standard recognizing the practice, but so far, …
Cal/OSHA and Sutter Bay Hospitals, which operates Mills-Peninsula Medical Center, have agreed to a $79,000 (70%) of the proposed penalty, down from a proposed $112,500, in the wake of a February 2024 workplace violence incident. A 53-year-old homeless man allegedly stabbed a 53-year-old employee who had asked him if he needed help after the man …