Following the recent expiration of California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) COVID worker-safety standard, a state lawmaker is introducing a bill that would continue prohibiting employers from preventing workers from wearing masks or respirators if it is safe.
In the wake of the devastating Los Angeles County fires, California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) officials are emphasizing in new guidance that domestic workers are covered by agency labor code rules governing fire debris removal if they are helping to clean up properties impacted by the fire damage.
Worker-safety advocacy groups are elevating their press on California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) officials to advance an indoor heat protection rule for prisoners and jail staff, as the national debate over heat standards becomes more focused on states due to the incoming Trump administration’s likely deprioritization of national heat standards.
California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board has adopted final, permanent standards to protect fabricated stone workers from exposure to crystalline silica despite continuing pushback from industry leaders, who claim that dozens of onerous new requirements and likely uneven enforcement will penalize businesses that are adequately protecting employees.
The California Legislature is weighing a bill that would impose new restrictions and certification requirements for stone fabrication shops to protect workers from being exposed to crystalline silica, in the latest step of a years-long push to stem a rise in the deadly disease silicosis in the Golden State and elsewhere.
California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) is touting what it says is the state’s first citation for a “willful” violation of outdoor heat safety standards, targeting a landscape maintenance company with a fine of more than $276,000 and underscoring the agency’s renewed commitment to bolster enforcement efforts.
Employer-focused attorneys are saying they expect California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) inspectors to focus primarily on “enterprise-wide” and less on “egregious” violations as part of an agency initiative to toughen enforcement policies by establishing those new categories of citations as required by a 2021 state law.
California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board is launching an advisory committee that will weigh amending state safety rules to eventually allow deployment of certain types of autonomous agricultural equipment, amid continued pushback from labor advocacy groups.
California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) and state prison officials plan to propose indoor heat safety rules specific to correctional institutions, after the state exempted those facilities from its first-time heat standards covering all other employers shortly before they took effect in July.
The fabricated stone manufacturing industry is making final pleas for California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) to scale back its proposed final permanent rules to protect workers from exposure to crystalline silica, warning that dozens of onerous new requirements and poor enforcement will penalize businesses that are adequately protecting employees.