Here is the status of SB 410 and other occupational safety and health bills. Many were scheduled for hearing this week. SB 410 was introduced by Senator Connie Leyva (D-San Bernardino) in reaction to the long-stalled indoor heat illness regulation mandated by law in 2016 but is undergoing a lengthy SRIA. Leyva was the author …
While COVID precautions are still in place on construction sites around California, the near ending of the pandemic allows for gatherings, and many employers throughout the state held safety events this week. It was both Construction Safety Week and Fall Prevention Stand-Down Week. In Santa Clara, DPR Construction, which is building the vast Vantage Data …
Fed-OSHA has submitted its yet-to-be-unveiled COVID emergency temporary standard to the federal Office of Management and Budget. It could be finalized in the coming weeks. Before then, it appears, there might – might – be at least some opportunity for public comment. This emergency standard comes now against the background of the pandemic’s hopeful end …
Bolstered by a federal Appeals Court ruling in a Fed-OSHA case, the Cal/OSHA Standards Board has adopted revisions to its diving regulations to preserve standards for so-called “technical” diving. Even Fed-OSHA has agreed to back off an earlier opinion that the proposal was not as effective as the national standard. The story goes back several …
Both Cal/OSHA and employers in the date palm industry agree that using lift-mounted platforms to place employees in trees to do needed work is better than having them use ladders. But the two sides are having a tough time coming up with language that works for employers and meets regulatory requirements. Growers hope a site …
Cal/OSHA’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health will likely be looking for its second chief in as many years. Current Chief Doug Parker has been nominated as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health – the Fed-OSHA administrator. Fed-OSHA has been without a top executive since the end of the Obama administration. During …
Senator Lena Gonzalez and co-author, Assemblyman Lorena Gonzalez, through SB 606, seek to apply Fed-OSHA’s “egregious employer” provisions to Cal/OSHA violations. But the bill is much more than just that concept. It also would give Cal/OSHA the ability to enforce provisions of the state Labor Code directly and would empower the agency to cite employers …
Doug Parker’s 1-1/2-year tenure as chief of the Division of Occupational Safety and Health could end soon, as President Joe Biden says he intends to nominate as Assistant Secretary of …