Among the state boards and commissions on Governor Brown’s chopping block are the Fair Employment and Housing Commission and the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board, aka the Cal-OSHA Standards Board.
I’m no Cal-OSHA expert, but I checked in with a source with extensive experience in OSHA matters to learn what this would mean.
Here is what I was told:
“It’s a good thing for workers and advocacy groups at least. Getting regs through the Cal-OSHA Standards board was a nightmare. Too much compromise required to get things through which often results in weaker than necessary regulations such as ergonomics or heat illness standards. Yes California has a lot of regs that other states don’t but they are close to useless because they have to be watered down significantly in order to get the appointees on the standards board to approve.”
Elimination of the board would be done through legislation or the budget process, so this is not a sure thing.
But if the Standards Board is eliminated, “stakeholder groups” would advise DOSH staff at the Division of Occupational Safety and Health. My source says that:
“Stakeholder panels aren’t great because employers always have more time and money to put into attending those, but when you have career staff at Cal-OSHA who feel comfortable moving things along, things can get done”.
Stay tuned as the plans for reorganization of some of the Department of Industrial Relations agencies are debated.
Julius Young
www.workerscompzone.com
www.boxerlaw.com
Category: Political developments
510.835.8870