Insight & Commentary on Occupational Safety & Health Issues
It may come as a surprise to some, but Cal/OSHA’s workplace violence regulations currently apply only to the Health Care Industry. Cal/OSHA plans to change that.
Right now, for non-healthcare industries, Cal/OSHA regulates workplace violence using the employer’s obligation to regularly identify and evaluate workplace hazards under Section 3203, California’s version of the general…
The Department of Industrial Relations’ (DIR) Labor Enforcement Task Force (LETF) has announced an initiative to inspect publicly funded construction sites to ensure employers provide worker’s compensation and follow labor laws, including workplace health and safety requirements.
With this new focus, construction employers who work on public works projects should review their workplace compliance to…
California employers are required to post their annual summary of work-related injuries and illnesses, including COVID-19 illness, in a visible and easily accessible area at every worksite from February 1st through April 30th. Employers are required to use Cal/OSHA’s Form 300A for this posting. Read the full article on the California Workplace
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has lifted the Fifth Circuit’s stay of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) on COVID-19 vaccination and testing for employers with at least 100 employees. Multiple parties, including 27 states, have filed emergency motions with the U.S. Supreme Court to block…
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has offered new COVID-19 guidance indicating that fully vaccinated individuals no longer need to wear masks or maintain physical distance from others in most settings. However, questions about employers’ compliance obligations and general duty expectations under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSH Act) remain.…
Since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offered new COVID-19 guidance allowing fully vaccinated individuals to avoid wearing masks or socially distancing in most settings, employers have been pushing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and state equivalents to embrace the change, but change is slow.
To read the article in its…
On May 20th, the Cal/OSHA Standards Board will consider changes to COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standards (“ETS”).
The proposed changes would still require employers to have an established written COVID-19 Prevention Program (“CPP”) that covers everything from training and communication with employees to the investigation of COVID-19 cases in the workplace.
However, there are…
As the federal government and state of California adjusted their COVID-19 guidance for vaccinated individuals, Cal OSHA remained silent on how vaccination affected the requirements under its COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS). While there had been discussions of revisions to the ETS, it was unclear if Cal OSHA would be able to release such…
Signaling significant regulatory and enforcement changes from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), President Joseph Biden has named a California official to lead the agency.
To read the full article, click here.
It has been three months since California approved the Division of Occupational Safety and Health’s (“Cal OSHA”) COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”). The rushed implementation of Cal OSHA’s ETS, which imposed new and confusing obligations on employers, left many scratching their heads and resulted in several legal challenges to the ETS. For example, some…
