California’s employers will see a more than 200% increase in workers’ comp premium assessments for the Occupational Safety and Health Fund. Other funds subject to assessments also show increasing costs during the new fiscal year. The OSH Fund was established by law in 2008 to stabilize Cal/OSHA’s funding and provides the lion’s share of state …
California’s Commission on Health, Safety, and Workers’ Compensation (CHSWC) is trying again to get a usable study to assess the cancer risks faced by those who clean and maintain firefighting vehicles. The Commission recently approved a study proposal after hearing a presentation by the UCLA Labor Occupational Safety and Health (LOSH) program outlining its plans …
It has been an article of faith around these parts that “Cal/OSHA” refers to all of the components of the state program, but a recent note from the communications team at the Department of Industrial Relations throws this assumption into question. In a recent Cal-OSHA Reporter article about the adoption of the Confined Spaces in …
A review of Cal/OSHA enforcement by the California State Auditor (CSA) cites continuing staffing shortages and “lax management of its policies and procedures” – and sometimes the P&Ps themselves – for several deficiencies it identified after inspecting selected case files. Audits of state agencies are a more/less routine function of the CSA. The audit was …
A multimillion-dollar project to automate Cal/OSHA’s information handling capabilities is about to enter its next stage – construction – officials of the Department of Industrial Relations said at the recent Cal/OSHA Advisory Committee meeting. The committee also heard about the Division’s plans for heat illness education and enforcement, its hiring progress, and updates from several …
Editors Note: This story has been corrected and updated. Director Hagen is moving to a JPA not to the private sector. Department of Industrial Relations Director Katie Hagen is leaving …
Cal/OSHA’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health is designated to get a 13% budget cut for the coming fiscal year under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s May revise. The Division will also lose some hiring authorization for 66 unfilled positions, but few involve inspectors. Other parts of the Cal/OSHA program were spared cuts in the budget plan. …
Under draft language released by Cal/OSHA’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health to implement recent legislation, employers would have to take extra heat illness prevention steps for some employees when temperatures reach 80ºF, indoors or outdoors. The draft revisions to the heat illness prevention standards, General Industry Safety Orders §§ 3395 and 3396, are intended …