from Ted Ted Schwartz, Safety/Training Manager, HR IDEAS, INC.
After a very lengthy hearing of testimony, most of it critical, the Cal OSHA Standards Board yesterday decided not to even entertain a motion to adopt emergency changes sought by the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) to the state's heat illness standard.
Instead, the board invited the Division to submit a substitute proposal that addresses what DOSH Chief Len Welsh said was the true emergency; “employers' lack of understanding of the shade requirements of General Industry Safety Order”. A new emergency proposal could be submitted to the board for its July 16 meeting in Los Angeles.
Len Welsh said enforcement efforts are "maxed out" and predicted more heat illnesses and even deaths without clarifications to at least the shade provisions of the standard. Consequently, it does not appear that any changes to the Heat Stress regulation could become effective until early fall, past the hottest part of summer.
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