A marine terminals procedure that currently is unregulated in California would get a set of regulations under a proposal by the Cal/OSH Standards Board based on a 2008 federal action. The proposal, plus two others, are in a comment period that ends with a public hearing May 21 in San Diego. Vertical tandem lift (VTL) …
A study recently released by the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded that Fed-OSHA investigations into worker safety whistleblower complaints have uneven quality and consistency and the agency isn’t providing the equipment, training and legal assistance that investigators need to do their jobs. There is no comparable study of whistleblower complaints filed with the California …
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is still waiting for the Obama administration to name an Assistant Secretary of Labor, but the Department of Labor has announced that it is moving to draft a regulation protecting workers from diacetyl. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, a Californian, said Fed-OSHA would withdraw the Advance Notice of Proposed …
Two new safety bulletins from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration warn employers about the dangers of bypassing safety features on skid-steer loaders, and methods for safely installing, maintaining and inspecting electrical cable trays. Skid-steer loaders are manufactured with safety features designed to prevent unexpected or inadvertent movement of the loader arm and hydraulics …
The Cal/OSH Standards Board has published a number of revisions to the aerosol transmissible diseases proposal. The board is accepting comments on the changes until March 15. The rulemaking package was part of a public hearing in August 2008. The proposal is intended to protect a wide range of workers from ATDs, such as tuberculosis. …
At its Feb. 19 meeting, the Cal/OSH Standards Board adopted a sweeping revision to the High Voltage Electrical Safety Orders. The 74-page revision is based on a Fed-OSHA final rule published in February 2007. The Standards Board adopted a similar update to the Low Voltage Electrical Safety Orders in May 2008. The current high-voltage standards …
With the Cal/OSH Standards Board preparing to engage in rulemaking to consolidate and clarify Title 8 standards on portable ladder safety, and the Division of Occupational Safety and Health concerned with the problem of falls that cause injury and death, here are recommendations from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Fed-OSHA and the …
SAN DIEGO — With California’s long-expected diacetyl regulation to finally be formally published as early as this spring, an independent toxicological assessment has concluded that an occupational exposure limit (OEL) based on an eight-hour time-weighted average (TWA) would be the most appropriate approach to protect workers from the lung-destroying chemical. Cal/OSHA has been working on …