The California Department of Public Health has confirmed 118 silicosis cases in 2025 from the engineered stone industry, just three fewer than the total for all of 2024. “We’re on track to significantly exceed the 2024 numbers,” says Michael Wilson, Ph.D, MPH, CIH, senior safety engineer for the Research and Standards-Health unit of Cal/OSHA’s Division …
The Cal/OSHA Appeals Board recently approved settlements in several significant injury cases, including two cases with repeat violations. Here is how those cases were settled after the employers and Cal/OSHA negotiated. Allied West Paper Corp., Fontana: This manufacturer will pay $59,925 (85%) of a proposed $70,750 resulting from a June 2024, lockout/tagout incident. An employee …
Two things became clear during yesterday’s joint legislative hearing in the wake of a state audit questioning Cal/OSHA’s performance: Lawmakers don’t see the agency’s problems as purely a function of …
Fed-OSHA monitors Cal/OSHA (and all state plans) on how well their program is adhering to and meeting federal metrics on a two-year, biennial evaluation cycle. Since 2023, the Federal Annual Monitoring and Evaluation (FAME) report shows Cal/OSHA is improving. Among other things, the agency has improved its vacancy rate since the 2023 evaluation. And while …
Wet winters following drought conditions, followed by dry and windy summers, are causing a spike in cases of Coccidioidomycosis, the potentially deadly fungal infection commonly known as Valley fever. Cal/OSHA offers workplace safety ideas, and a quick review of its experience in the Appeals Board with related cases has been mixed. The California Department of …
A fatality case that began with the incident in January 2016 has come to an end with a lawsuit dismissal in Sacramento County Superior Court. United Parcel Service challenged a Cal/OSHA Appeals Board Decision After Reconsideration in 2019, but this spring the two sides agreed to end the case. The package delivery giant had filed …
Cal/OSHA, including the Enforcement Branch, the Consultation Service, and the Appeals and Standards Boards, will receive slight increases in the approved 2025-26 budget from what the governor proposed in May. The budget was finalized and signed into law at the end of June. The state Department of Finance recently released the details. The Cal/OSHA program …