The U.S. Senate has confirmed David Keeling as Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. It happened on a deadline. Keeling’s confirmation was one of a tranche of 107 nominations, approved 51-46 under a Senate resolution. Also confirmed was Wayne Palmer as head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Palmer …
An August accident in Southern Florida involving a big rig that killed three people made national news. It involved an alleged illegal alien driver licensed by California and uncovered major issues with California’s commercial driver’s license (CDL) program. And California is not alone in its issues. Texas, for instance, leads the nation by far in …
California’s Office of Administrative Law has approved Cal/OSHA’s federally mandated revisions to its fall protection regulations for residential construction. Beginning July 1st, 2025, the trigger height will be six feet instead of the current 15 feet. OAL approval ends a saga that began more than 10 years ago when Fed-OSHA, under the Obama administration informed …
U.S. Representative republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer lost her first reelection bid to Oregon’s District 5 to Democrat Janelle Bynum. Now, President-Elect Donald Trump has nominated her as the Secretary of Labor. However, many employers are concerned about the appointment. DeRemer is a native Californian, born in Santa Clara, raised in Hanford, and educated at California State …
Fed-OSHA has announced the availability of $12.7 million in funding for safety, health, and training education under the Susan Harwood Training Grant Program. California organizations received about $886,000 in 2023, 7% of the national total. The program includes grants for: Targeted topics to identify and prevent OSHA-designated workplace hazards. Applicants are required to conduct training …
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 …
Almost 30% of incidents reported by as workplace-related are incidents that happened at work but were not workplace-related – such as suicides and drug overdoses. The data developed by the Department of Industrial Relations’ research department indicates there were 504 workplace fatalities in California in 2022, a 9% increase over 2021. The data originates from …
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration recently advised the industry that “more advanced and protective head protection” – safety helmets – should replace traditional hard hats. It recommended they be used across a panoply of industries. Shortly after, the agency announced that it is switching to safety helmets for its inspection force. OSHA is …