California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) is beginning a rulemaking process to toughen its enforcement policies by creating new citations for “enterprise-wide” and “egregious” violations, and substantially hiking potential monetary penalties on companies -- steps mandated by a 2021 state law but which the agency is only now preparing to implement.
November 15, 2026
California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) is preparing to implement its first-time indoor heat worker-protection standards -- which generally require employers to implement new employee-safety measures when indoor temperatures reach 82 degrees -- after they formally took effect July 23, following an expedited review by the state’s Office of Administrative Law (OAL).
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A bill that would require California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) to amend its hospital violence-prevention rules to require that facilities maintain metal detectors at certain entrances and implement a number of supporting security measures cleared a key committee vote last week, after lawmakers approved amendments allowing small and rural hospitals to use metal-detecting “wands” instead.
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California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board has approved -- as expected -- first-time indoor heat worker-protection standards, along with a petition from a labor union to begin work on a rule that would subject renewable fuel refineries to the same strict worker-safety standards that already apply at petroleum refineries.
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The California Labor Commissioner’s Office is fining Amazon.com Services, LLC nearly $6 million for alleged violations of the state’s “Warehouse Quotas” law at two distribution facilities, saying the lapses threaten the health of workers and putting new focus on a raft of state and federal enforcement actions against the online retailer that began in 2022.
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has quietly replaced the chairman of Cal/OSHA’s standards board and dismissed a vocal member of the panel who represented occupational health interests, in the aftermath of the members’ controversial decision to approve a new worker-safety standard for indoor heat despite opposition from the state finance department.
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has appointed Debra Lee as the permanent head of Cal/OSHA, a role she has filled in an acting capacity since early this year -- tasking her with working through the agency’s backlog of worker-safety rulemakings amid a stubbornly high staff vacancy rate.
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California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) officials are scrambling to revise and resubmit their landmark but controversial new indoor heat worker-safety rules in time for the expanded requirements to take effect in late July, assuming the agency’s standards board will approve them at a June 20 meeting.
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California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) has renewed its emergency temporary standard (ETS) for crystalline silica exposure in “engineered stone fabrication shops,” and state lawmakers are advancing a bill that would establish even more stringent worker-protection rules for the sector, underscoring the escalating concern over dangers facing its workers.
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California lawmakers have approved a statewide audit of California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) inspection and enforcement processes, amid criticism that the “understaffed” agency is failing to adequately protect agriculture and other workers from on-the-job dangers and fails to properly cite and collect fines from violators.
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