Eleven California organizations will receive more than $1.3 million in Fed-OSHA Susan Harwood Training Grants for 2021. The grants were announced in the wake of infectious disease training grants announced in mid-September. Click here to see our coverage. The annual Susan Harwood grants cover targeted topic, developmental and follow-on grants. In all, 93 organizations nationwide …
California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed four bills affecting occupational safety and health. Once is controversial legislation establishing new “egregious violations,” and a bill aimed at curbing quota abuse at warehouse operations such as Amazon. The governor signed bills addressing household domestic work and wildfire smoke respirators for agricultural employees. The most ambitious and controversial …
Sneaked into the congressional Democrats’ $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill last weekend – shortly before the Budget Committee approved it – are ten-fold increases in Fed-OSHA penalties for serious, willful, and …
Four bills related to occupational safety and health – some controversial, some not – have reached the governor’s desk. The governor has until October 10th to act on them. First, the controversial. The state Senate and Assembly have agreed on the final version of SB 606 and sent it to the governor. Authored by Senator …
Two California organizations were among 37 nationwide receiving Fed-OSHA Susan Harwood Training Grants to provide education on infectious diseases. Funded by the American Rescue Plan of 2021, OSHA is providing $6.7 million in grants to the recipients. The California groups will get about 6% of the total. They include: University of California, Berkeley: A $200,000 …
Several significant pieces of legislation affecting occupational safety and health are close to passage in California’s statehouse. Here is a status update, including major revisions to three of the bills. AB 701: This bill by Assemblyman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) has been revised in the state Senate, where it is in its second reading. It …
Cal-OSHA Reporter frequently fields contacts by employees through various means to report safety issues. While this publication does not give advice, we do point people in the right direction. In many cases, the complaints are informative for the occupational safety and health community. A civilian employee at March Air Force Base in Riverside contacted us …
Fed-OSHA has issued what amounts to a mid-term report card on Cal/OSHA, giving it a pass on items it found in 2019 in light of its efforts to respond to the COVID pandemic in 2020. Cal/OSHA Chief Doug Parker has essentially taken leave as a new parent and leave to deal with his nomination to …