Cal/OSHA approved temporary standard

• The Cal/OSHA Standards Board, overruling its staff recommendation, has approved promulgating a controversial emergency temporary standard.
• The standard requires the fabricated stone industry to protect employees from silica exposure.
• The industry has seen dozens of silica injury cases over the past five years and at least ten deaths. The Western Occupational and Environmental Medical Association (WOEMA) petitioned the Board for an ETS, citing what it terms a crisis in engineered stone.
• The Division of Occupational Safety and Health will draft the standard. Deputy Chief for Health Eric Berg tells Cal-OSHA Reporter the Division intends to hold an advisory committee meeting as soon as August. It will draft the Emergency ETS over the next several months.
  Read more

Congress likely to keep OSHA loophole

• Congress will likely reapprove a policy that may be obscuring the deaths of hundreds of animal agriculture workers despite concerns from worker advocates.
• An appropriations rider has been attached to the budget of OSHA.
• The rider prohibits OSHA from spending money to regulate or investigate injuries or deaths that happen on small farms that do not have temporary labor camps.
• This rider also excludes protection workers employed by complex corporations that are responsible for hundreds or thousands of animals on large farms.
  Read more

Firm faces $1M in penalties

• A building construction company’s history of violations of federal workplace safety and health laws continued after inspections at two American Samoa work sites where workers were exposed to numerous dangerous hazards.
• Since 2018, OSHA has cited Paramount Builders Ltd. with 22 serious violations, including willful and repeat failures, in 26 inspections.
• The company’s history includes fall protection failures that led to an employee’s 24-foot fatal fall in May 2013 as they painted rafters.
• The agency recently cited the company for 21 violations and proposed $1,088,681 in penalties.
  Read more

Grant available for safety

• The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is looking to recognize employers for their efforts in noise control and hearing loss prevention in the workplace.
• The Safe-in-Sound Excellence in Hearing Loss Prevention Awards are part of the agency’s annual recognition in partnership with the Council for Accreditation in Occupational Hearing Conservation and the National Hearing Conservation Association.
• Awards fall in two categories: excellence, and innovation.
• The deadline to nominate your company or individual for this award is Aug. 18, 2023.
  Read more