The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, effectively Cal/OSHA’s parent, is strategically rearranging its regions to concentrate on the growing Southern part of the United States. This move is not only taking advantage of the fact that most of the Western states have effective, fairly self-governing, state programs, but also ensuring that the Southern United …
Next week, May 6th to 10th, is National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction. Construction employers in California and across the country will take a few minutes to stop work to reinforce the message that falls can kill and injure and to remember that prevention is the key. Falls are one of the most …
California’s residential construction industry says it wants to compromise with Fed-OSHA on its insistence that the state adopt a uniform six-foot fall protection trigger for this industry. The Cal/OSHA Standards Board is edging toward an adopting vote on the controversial change, which the industry has vehemently opposed. “The bottom line is, we’ll compromise,” according to …
On May 31st, Fed-OSHA’s rules regarding employee representation during OSHA inspections will go into effect for most of the country. The so-called “walkaround” rule will ultimately come to California. Fed-OSHA says a regulatory change is to ensure “necessary information about worksite conditions and hazards.” But one attorney representing employers calls it a “thank you” to …
Guardrails, safety nets, conventional fall protection, fall-restraint systems, scaffolds, mobile work platforms, ladders, and even cranes are feasible alternatives to protect California residential construction employees from falls, according to Fed-OSHA. The Feds are mandating that the Cal/OSHA Standards Board adopt the Fed’s uniform six-foot fall protection trigger for residential work and, eventually, all construction. Stakeholders …
Employers Subject to Forms 300 and 301 E-Submission
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration says it is prepared to assume jurisdiction for “all construction” in California if Cal/OSHA does not adopt its mandated six-foot fall protection for residential construction. However, the intimidation has few teeth, given that Fed-OSHA is woefully understaffed in California. “That it could seriously contemplate handling the construction industry …
Cal/OSHA’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health is increasing penalties for all violations except those classified as serious by 3% in 2024. It says the reason is to keep up with inflation. The good news if it can be called that, is the increase is less than half of 2023’s 7% rise. Since a 2015 …