Gates Proposal Rolling Along

The Cal/OSHA Standards Board staff and stakeholders adopted field modifications to the Board’s draft language on gate safety. As a result, the impending revisions to General Industry Safety Orders §3324 will separate requirements for horizontal sliding gates from those for swinging gates, and a key definition has been revised to insulate innocent employers from incidents … Read More »

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Cal/OSHA’s New Budget 2026

DOSH expenditures – including the Standards and Appeals boards – are pegged at some $290 million for the new fiscal year, which began in July, a 2% increase over 2025-26 expenditures. There were no budget cuts from last year. The budget includes funding for several budget change proposals (BCPs), such as the ongoing Cal/OSHA data … Read More »

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Preventing Hell in a Bucket

Do employees who work in aerial lifts and elevated work platforms face an unaddressed danger from fires and other emergencies while working aloft? An out-of-state petitioner with something to sell is telling the Cal/OSHA Standards Board that he believes so. He wants the rulemaking body to require emergency procedures for such work, as well as … Read More »

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Latest Major Settlements

Among the hundreds of settlements between Cal/OSHA and employers approved by the Appeals Board in June are several cases involving fatalities and other serious incidents. Here are some of the most significant cases. ER Plumbing and Construction: This Oakland employer has withdrawn its appeal of four serious and four general violations and $54,185 in penalties … Read More »

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Harwood Grants Available Again

After a one-year absence for most of the regulated community, Fed-OSHA is again making Susan Harwood Training Grants available. The grants for this year amount to almost $13 million. California has traditionally received between 10% and 15% of the total, but over the past two cycles, that share has dropped to 7%. The grants support … Read More »

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Some ICE Detainees are ‘Employees’

The GEO Group is a private company doing business in California as Golden State Annex and owns some 95 prisons and mental health facilities worldwide. In California, it is contracted to house Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency detainees, mostly illegal aliens. A settlement between the Cal/OSHA Appeals Board and GEO affirms a decision after reconsideration … Read More »

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Cal/OSHA: Changes to “Walkaround” Rule

Cal/OSHA’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health has published revisions to its version of the so-called “walkaround” rule on who can accompany inspectors on workplace visits. Comments on the changes … Read More »

Uber Uncooperative with Cal/OSHA

The California Court of Appeals has, for the most part, turned back an attempt by Uber Technologies to prevent Cal/OSHA from obtaining documents related to the death of an Uber Eats driver who fell to his death at a residence in 2023. The Second Appellate District ruled against Uber’s contention that since DOSH cited the … Read More »

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