Indoor Heat Regulation Is Out

April 3, 2023

Cal/OSHA releases indoor heat illness prevention standard

The Cal/OSHA Standards Board has finally published the official version of the indoor heat illness prevention standard.

The proposal has entered its 45-day comment period.  There will be a public hearing on May 18th in San Diego. 

The regulation was mandated by SB 1167 in 2016, and required to be completed by January 2019. DOSH didn’t meet that deadline but said the progress it had made at the time complied with the spirit of the law. The COVID pandemic delayed the proposal further.  

The regulation will apply to indoor workplaces where the temperature is at least 82°F.
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New OSHA rule protects workers alleging tax violations

  • OSHA adopted a new rule that outlines whistleblower protections under the federal Taxpayer First Act (TFA).
  • The measure protects whistleblowers who testified about tax violations or assisted in a government investigation of tax violations.
  • To allege retaliation, workers must file complaints within 180 days after the retaliatory action.
  • The new rule could lead to more whistleblowers coming forward with complaints about tax fraud or underpayment of taxes.
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A look at Nevada citations

  • OSHA conducted 988 inspections in Nevada in 2022, of which 2.5 percent resulted in citations, according to Ogletree Deakins.
  • Reno led the state with 27 citations.
  • Employers in the “Casino Hotels” industry can use the OSHA Tracker to find OSHA citations related to casino hotel violations and focus more tightly on the city.
  • The top violation in the Casino Hotels industry cited by OSHA was “Electrical – Installation and Use.”
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Florida contractor 35 violations since 2019

  • Federal workplace safety inspectors have found that an Ocala framing contractor’s history of defying required safety standards continues with their employees’ safety and lives at risk.
  • OSHA completed 11 inspections of Domingos 54 Construction Inc.’s worksites and identified four willful, eight repeat, 19 serious, and four other-than-serious violations.
  • OSHA’s warnings about workplace falls were ignored by the company in March 2020 when a 53-year-old employee suffered a fatal, 10-foot fall from the roof of a Tampa residence, a preventable tragedy as fall protection would have likely saved his life.
  • OSHA cited the company for three willful violations and one repeat violation and proposed penalties totaling $464,079.
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