California is facing what has been described as a “severe” farm labor crisis, with estimates that some areas of the Central Valley and Central Coast have lost up to 70% of their farmworkers and that, across the board, the shortage is about 20%. Meanwhile, there are fears that the increased use of automation and artificial …
The Cal/OSHA Standards Board has written to district attorneys in the seven counties with the vast majority of silicosis cases, asking them to join Cal/OSHA “in a unified fight” to stop the disease, caused by exposure to workers who “cut, grind and polish stone countertops.” The request was sent to the D.A.s in Los Angeles, …
The Cal/OSHA Standards Board’s just-proposed revisions to the Process Safety Management standard for refineries solve a “clarity problem, an ambiguity problem, and a potential preemption problem,” according to Division of Occupational Safety and Health deputy chief Carl Paganelli. And most importantly, he says, it solves a legal problem. The revisions were up at a public …
Cal/OSHA has cited two north-state law enforcement agencies in the wake of the death of an officer in March during a drug trafficking disruption operation in Olivehurst. In doing so, the agency has used powers to cite directly from the California Labor Code on workplace violence prevention. The Yuba County Sheriff’s Department faces more than …
Beginning July 1st, companies that employ household domestic service employees – including housecleaners, home care providers, and landscapers – are subject to Cal/OSHA regulations. Note that private households who hire a housecleaner, etc., are exempt, with some exceptions. This change comes courtesy of SB 1350, by Senator Maria Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles), a 2024 law …
The Department of Industrial Relations is sharply decreasing the assessment employers will pay added to workers’ comp premium for the Occupational Safety and Health Fund. That is where much of the Cal/OSHA program funding is. The OSH Fund was established in 2008 to stabilize funding for the program. It is one of several funding mechanisms …
In June, six employees of Ruiz Farm Labor walked off the job at a Dixon tomato farm during triple-digit heat, believing they had their foreman’s permission to leave work early because of the sweltering conditions. The employees say they left work early because they began to feel ill and felt it was unsafe to continue …
The California Labor Commissioner is proposing more than $5 million in penalties against Amazon for alleged violations of AB 701, a 2021 law intended to curb warehouse quota abuse. The state alleges that Amazon warehouses in Moreno Valley and Redlands used a “peer-to-peer” quota system, which it says is exactly the kind of quota scheme …