Like many safety professionals, Christopher Ross didn’t start his career in safety. In fact, he earned a degree in communications from Cal State Sacramento in the late 1990s. And he began his career not in safety, but in workers’ compensation. And it fits because safety determines outcomes in workers’ comp. But safety found him, and …
California’s employers will see a more than 200% increase in workers’ comp premium assessments for the Occupational Safety and Health Fund. Other funds subject to assessments also show increasing costs during the new fiscal year. The OSH Fund was established by law in 2008 to stabilize Cal/OSHA’s funding and provides the lion’s share of state …
A bill in the state legislature seeks to, for the first time, create a workers’ comp presumption for private sector employers. Here’s why the state Department of Finance opposes AB 1336The state Department of Finance (DOF) has voiced official opposition to AB 1336, a bill that for the first time would create a workers’ comp …
While the three confirmed cases of California dairy workers with H5 bird flu infections are reported to have suffered only mild symptoms, such as conjunctivitis, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has jumped into action and is investigating two more possible cases. The disease may have been transmitted from dairy cows, who, they …
A new bill by Senator Dave Cortese would create a presumption that an agricultural employee alleging a heat-related injury or illness is work-related. More importantly, it would allow the applicant’s attorneys to allege in workers’ comp court that Cal/OSHA regulations were violated even if Cal/OSHA hasn’t cited the employer. The bill’s sponsors are the United …
Known as experience rating, an X-Mod, or an EMR by any name, it helps promote workplace safety throughout the United States. California’s experience rating system is not unique, and employers experience ratings are promulgated in every state. Experience rating was designed to give employers a financial incentive to improve workplace safety by impacting how much …
Attorney, advisor, writer, regulator, and friend. He was also Cal-OSHA Reporter’s case editor. Mark Webb was all of these and so much more. Mark was a dedicated husband and loving …
The California Court of Appeal has rejected an employer’s appeal that a fatally injured employee was not an employee. The fatality occurred in 2016 in Monterey County. Ian Czirban’s appeal of his 2019 conviction for failing to have workers’ comp insurance, fraud, and tax evasion wasn’t a complete failure. He saw his sentence of three …