California’s legislative season is over, marked by the Governor acting on bills of interest to the occupational safety and health community. Two of the most significant bills signed by the Governor involve protections for firefighters from the toxic effects of battery fires and from components of firefighting equipment itself. They include Assembly Bills 841 and …
The state legislature has approved three bills of interest to California’s occupational safety and health community, and they are now awaiting the governor’s action. The foremost of these bills is SB 20 (Senator Caroline Menjivar, D-Van Nuys), aimed at addressing the silicosis crisis in the engineered stone industry. SB 20 no longer would create a …
Editors Note: This story has been corrected and updated. Director Hagen is moving to a JPA not to the private sector. Department of Industrial Relations Director Katie Hagen is leaving …
Perhaps no bill Governor Gavin Newsom signed this year is as controversial as ABX2-1, the legislation created in an extraordinary legislative session. Politicians say it is aimed at preventing gas price spikes. All of this is happening against the backdrop of a substantial tax increase on gasoline. The California Air Resources Board expected to raise …
California’s Governor, Gavin Newsom, has vetoed the most controversial occupational safety and health-related legislation while approving four others. Vetoed is SB 1299 (Dave Cortese, D-Campbell), which would have created a rebuttable presumption that an outdoor heat-related injury in agriculture is work-related for purposes of workers’ compensation, providing the employer is deemed to have violated any …
Following a defiant March vote on the indoor heat illness standard despite a direction from the Governor’s office to table the matter over last-minute cost concerns, Cal/OSHA Standards Board Chairman Dave Thomas told Cal-OSHA Reporter, “I don’t know if we’re going to be here next month.” It’s taken three months, but the other shoe has …
Homeless people living outdoors in unsanitary conditions could contract and spread contagious diseases such as tuberculosis, typhus, and hepatitis A, but whether sidewalk encampments pose a significant health threat to the public or not is unclear. Cal/OSHA’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health Administration does not appear to have ever discussed regulations to protect the …
Three safety-related bills have been passed by the California Legislature and are awaiting action by Governor Gavin Newsom. They include SB 553 on workplace violence, SB 686 on household domestic service and AB 521 women’s toilet facilities on construction sites. SB 553 (Senator Dave Cortese, D-Campbell) would require California employers to develop and implement workplace …