California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) is outlining steps it is taking to improve the agency’s inspection and enforcement efforts following a highly critical state audit released in July, including actions to better document why inspections are pursued or not, conduct inspections in a timelier manner, ensure fines are properly assessed, and increase staffing levels.
September 16, 2026
South Carolina is urging the 4th Circuit to reinstate its litigation challenging OSHA’s requirement that states match annual increases to federal minimum and maximum OSH Act penalties, arguing a lower court erred in finding South Carolina’s Administrative Procedure Act (APA) claims were time-barred.
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has vetoed a bill to bar employers from relying on automated decision-making systems (ADS) to make certain employment decisions -- including those aimed at aiding worker safety -- without human oversight, but signed a measure to reduce worker exposure to crystalline silica in the stone fabrication industry.
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Industry and business groups are ramping up a campaign to convince California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to veto a labor-backed bill to bar employers from relying on automated decision-making systems (ADS) to make certain employment decisions -- including those aimed at aiding worker safety -- without human oversight.
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The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) is recommending steps states should take to bolster health and safety protections for workers to lock-in current federal protections and close gaps in areas OSHA does not regulate, arguing federal worker protections are under attack by the Trump administration.
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An employer advocacy group is heavily faulting California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) proposed first-time rules to protect workers from sliding and swinging gates at worksites, arguing the measures capture far too many small gates and go far beyond the breadth of coverage envisioned in a petition accepted by the agency to draft the new standards.
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California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board is partially granting two petitions seeking review of separate worker-safety rules covering residential construction worker falls and bird flu exposure, though they are rejecting requests by the petitioners for emergency standards to address their concerns.
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California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board is slated to consider at its meeting later this month two petitions that board staff are proposing to mostly reject -- one to delay implementation of federal rules to protect residential construction workers from falls, and the other to expand a standard to protect dairy and poultry workers from bird flu.
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Several key worker-safety bills in the California Legislature are advancing for imminent floor votes, while others -- including one that would have required a study on Cal/OSHA’s chronic staff-vacancy problems -- have stalled for the year.
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California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) is contemplating new actions to reduce worker exposure to crystalline silica in the stone-fabrication sector -- in response to alarming increases in cases of silicosis, and deaths from the disease -- including stronger enforcement of safety rules and support for legislation requiring criminal charges against negligent shop owners.
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