CAL/OSHA has proposed new regulations that would incorporate California’s new workplace violence prevention law — which took effect July 1 — into Title 8, the set of regulations that covers workplace safety in the Golden State.
However, the proposed rules add a number of new requirements that some safety observers say would be unworkable in many workplaces and may create burdensome new standards for employers to follow. Here’s how the new rules add to those requirements.

Workplace controls

The proposed regulations list acceptable procedures and rules that can be used to effectively reduce workplace violence hazards:
• Appropriate staffing levels,
• Hiring dedicated security personnel,
• Effective means to alert employees of the presence, location, and nature of a  security threat, and
• Control of visitor entry.

Response procedures

The draft rules outline steps employers can take when responding to and then investigating a case of workplace violence, post-incident:
• Provide immediate medical care or first aid to workers who have been injured in the incident,
• Identify employees involved in the incident,
• For employers with more than 25 employees, make available individual trauma counseling to those staff affected by the incident,
• Conduct a post-incident debriefing as soon as possible after the incident with employees and supervisors involved in the incident,
• Identify hazards that may have contributed to the incident,
• Identify and evaluate whether appropriate corrective measures developed under the firm’s workplace violence prevention plan were effectively implemented, and
• Solicit opions from employees involved in the incident about the cause of the incident, and what could have prevented it.

 

 

The takeaway

The proposed rules are just the first step. They still have to go through a public comment period and the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, which writes new regulations.
However, the rules have already received plenty of pushback from employers.

 

 

 

CAL/OSHA is working on new rules that would crack down on and step up enforcement and penalties against California employers that commit “egregious” and “enterprise-wide” workplace safety violations.

To enforce the impending rules, the agency is ramping up the hiring of investigators to identify egregious violators and to refer more employers for criminal prosecution.

The forthcoming rules would impose substantial penalties on companies that have shown a disregard towards California workplace safety regulations and the wellbeing of their employees.

Employers that are cited for egregious violations could be fined up to $158,000 “per instance,” meaning it can be applied for each employee exposed to the violation.

Here’s what’s on tap:

Enterprise-wide violation

Under the proposed rules, a violation is enterprise-wide if an employer has multiple worksites and either of the following is true:
• The employer has a written policy or procedure that violates occupational safety and health regulations; or
• The Division of Occupational Safety and Health has evidence of a pattern or practice of the same violation or violations involving more than one of the employer’s worksites.

Egregious violation

The proposed rules define an egregious violation as a willful violation where the employer has had a previous egregious violation in the past five years. One or more of the following must apply:

• The employer intentionally made no reasonable effort to eliminate a known violation.
• The employer has a history of one or more serious, repeat, or willful violations or more than 20 general or regulatory violations per 100 employees.
• The employer intentionally disregarded its health and safety responsibilities, such as by failing to maintain an Injury and Illness Program, ignoring safety hazards, or refusing to comply with regulations.
• The employer’s conduct amounts to clear bad faith in the performance of their duties to comply with occupational safety and health standards.
• Within the five years preceding a citation for an egregious violation, the employer has committed more than five violations of any Title 8 standard that has become TWO NEW PENALTY finalized.
• The violations resulted in worker fatalities, a worksite catastrophe, or five or more injuries or illnesses. Catastrophe is defined as inpatient hospitalization of three or more workers from a workplace hazard.
• Within the 12 months immediately preceding the underlying violation, 10% of all employees at the cited worksite sustained workplace injuries or illnesses.

The takeaway

The proposed regulations pose the largest risk for companies with multiple locations.
Fines will be adjusted each year to account for inflation. Employers should double down on their workplace safety efforts and ensure that there is buy-in to the program from top management down to supervisors and line workers at all locations.

 

THE CAL/OSHA Standards Board has voted to approve new heat illness prevention regulations that will require some workplaces to make significant adjustments to their operations in order to comply, possibly starting early this summer.
The vote has been challenged, and at the last minute, the California Department of Finance withdrew its approval of the regulatory changes due to a lack of full analysis on their potential financial impact on state entities, particularly state-operated correctional facilities.
However, Cal/OSHA is already in the process of creating a carveout for these entities to appease the Finance Department.
The indoor heat illness prevention standard applies to most indoor workplaces where the temperatures reach at least 82 degrees. According to Cal/OSHA, that includes facilities like warehouses, manufacturing and production facilities, greenhouses, wholesale and retail distribution centers, restaurant kitchens, and dry cleaners.

The rules

Applicable employers will need to create and maintain a written indoor heat illness prevention plan that includes the following:
82-degree trigger – When temperatures indoors reach this level, employers must:
• Have and maintain one or more cool-down areas when employees are present, which must be kept at a temperature below 82 degrees.
• Allow and encourage staff to take preventive cool-down rests in a cool-down area when they feel the need. They should be monitored for signs of heat illness during rests.
• Provide drinking water near the areas where employees are working.
• Observe all employees during heat waves when a workplace has no measures for controlling the effects of outdoor heat on indoor temperatures.
87-degree trigger – When the temperature exceeds 87 degrees, employers must measure the temperature and heat index, and identify all other environmental risk factors for heat illness. Firms must keep records of the temperature/heat index.

They must also implement control measures such as:
• Using air conditioners, swamp coolers, ventilation, or other measures to reduce the air temperature (engineering controls);
• Adjusting work procedures, practices, or schedules to minimize exposure to heat, such as changing shifts to start earlier and avoid the hottest parts of the day (administrative controls); or
• Using personal heat-protective equipment, such as water- or air-cooled garments or heat-reflective clothing.

Employers with affected workplaces must also observe new employees for 14 days when working under these conditions.

Emergency response – Employers must develop emergency response procedures, which must include:
• An effective communication system to allow workers to contact a supervisor or emergency services.
• Steps for responding to signs and symptoms of heat illness, including first aid and providing emergency medical services.
• Emergency response procedures for severe heat illness.
• Monitoring employees exhibiting signs of heat illness, and not leaving them alone without offering them onsite first aid or medical services.

Training – Employees and supervisors will need to be trained on:
• Personal risk factors for heat illness.
• Their employer’s procedures for complying with the regulations.
• The importance of frequent water consumption.

The takeaway

As mentioned, at this point there is no definitive date for these regulations taking effect, but Cal/OSHA insists they will be ready before summer starts in late June.