As expected, California OSHA (Cal/SOHA) officials’ latest update to proposed first-time employee-safety rules for heat illness prevention at indoor worksites rejects pressure from worker-safety advocates and some of the agency’s standards board members to tighten the draft by lowering temperature thresholds that trigger protective actions.
September 16, 2026
California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board has approved a petition asking the agency to develop an emergency temporary standard (ETS) to protect workers from exposure to crystalline silica in “engineered stone fabrication shops,” citing a current “crisis” where a growing number of workers are developing advanced silicosis, a serious lung disease.
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Employer and industry groups are making last-ditch efforts to convince California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) officials to ease key sections of the agency’s proposal to strengthen worker-safety rules for lead exposure in the construction sector and general industry, ahead of an upcoming vote by a divided standards board on the measures.
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A California lawmaker says he will exempt small businesses from his controversial bill to accelerate development of workplace violence prevention and management standards for the state’s non-healthcare businesses and public agencies following strong opposition from employers, but the change is not expected to ease those groups’ objections.
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The top executive of the California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) standards board told a June 15 meeting that the agency’s lack of resources is delaying its rules and in turn leading interest groups and state lawmakers to introduce bills that bypass the administrative process and dictate standards directly, such as recent measures on workplace violence, heat and more.
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South Carolina is defending its latest challenge to OSHA’s mandate for states to match annual increases to federal minimum and maximum OSH Act penalties, arguing courts should not force it to “bet the farm” by provoking an enforcement action before suing over the policy, and that time spent on a prior case should not count against the statute of limitations.
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The California state Senate has passed a controversial bill to require employers to include workplace violence-prevention measures in their existing employee-safety plans -- an effort driven by dissatisfaction with the pace of California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) rulemaking to establish a first-time workplace violence prevention standard for sectors outside healthcare.
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California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) officials are facing pressure from labor unions, worker-safety advocates and some of the agency’s standards board members to tighten proposed first-time employee-safety rules for heat illness prevention at indoor worksites, primarily by lowering the temperature thresholds that trigger several worker-protection requirements.
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OSHA is asking a federal district court to dismiss South Carolina’s latest challenge to the agency’s yet-unenforced requirement for states to raise their maximum penalties for workplace health and safety violations to match federal levels, saying the case was filed too late and fails to show any harm from the policy, among other flaws.
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Groups representing employers, industries, labor unions and worker-safety advocates are gearing up for what are expected to be highly contentious deliberations by California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) on its proposed first-time worker-safety rules for heat illness prevention at indoor worksites -- an effort that could also help shape standards at the federal level.
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