jlg_logo2
jlg_logo2
Book A Call

Workplace Safety in California

Workplace Safety in California

Are you concerned about the safety of your life and health at your workplace? Are you worried about who is responsible for what when it comes to addressing safety protocols at work? Look no further – the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA), the agency overseeing the compliance with the applicable health and workplace safety laws in California is with you. One thing you need to get clearly is that the law recognizes your right to the enjoyment of a safe and healthy workplace in discharging your day-to-day duties.

Conversely, that is to mean your employer has a duty of care in this regard. Also, it’ll interest you to discover that, courtesy of the COVID-19 pandemic, as you would later read in this piece, the standard of this duty of care seems to have been raised. The thrust of this edition is to offer a simple summary of the primary employer adherence responsibilities under the professional health and safety laws in California.

Curiously, you’d agree with us that a secure work environment is significant for sustaining personnel morale and remaining competitive. Sadly, there are huge costs in managing workplace eventualities by way of property destruction, employee compensation overheads, lost productivity, which cannot be overemphasized. To protect both life and property, compliance with workplace orders is important resulting in grave penalties for not complying.

Burning Legal Issues

Interestingly, one of the front-row states that have got a working health and occupational safety program in place is the State of California. Today, in what is known as “Safety Orders”, the state of California has enacted health and safety orders in their thousands. These “Safety Orders” usually address matters more carefully than most of the federal law counterparts. An effective workplace health and safety compliance in California demands an exhaustive recognition of the standards in California. In essence, it considers the way investigations operate and how California demands higher penalties for willful or recurring violations.

What’s the Law in California?

In 1973, the California Occupational Safety and Health Regulations were promulgated. With a few exceptions, employers of labor in California are required to take to Cal/OSHA. As one of the 25 states whose safety and health programs have the federal government’s approval, such plans, if they exist, precede the federal OSHA.

The Cal/OSHA covers nearly every employer and employees (civil servants inclusive) in California. Although federal employers are exempted, they are obligated under the requirements of the federal OSHA. Back in California, the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency of the state is primarily responsible for overseeing the Cal/OSHA program. Other major units relevant to Cal/OSHA are as follows:

  1. Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board
  2. Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH)
  3. Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board

Knowing your rights as an Employee

Like we remarked earlier, there are rights to which you’re entitled as an employee. These are:

If you believe that your workplace is not safe or healthy, you have a right to complain. On working on your complaint, during an inspection, for example, Cal/OSHA does not reveal your identity to your employer. Consequently, after a proper inspection has been done, Cal/OSHA notifies you of the results of such inspection. Where Cal/OSHA believes that no violation of standards has occurred, it makes a written notification to the complainant who may then demand a review of this determination.

How your employer is responsible

Aside from the comprehensive obligations to make the workplace “safe and healthful”, the California Labor Code expects from employees certain specific others. Employers under the Cal/OSHA need to specifically do these:

What are an employee’s responsibilities under Cal/OSHA?

Generally, although Cal/OSHA does not mention any non-managerial or non-supervisory employees for violating their responsibilities, nevertheless, employees are required to follow all lawful employer health and safety regulations. Equally, they need to use the personal protective kit expected of them while working.

Specific safety orders obtainable under Cal/OSHA

There are General Industry Safety Orders under the Cal/OSHA that cover most employers. However, it should be noted that the applicable ones are unique to the nature of a definite workplace. So, these safety orders differ from one industry to another. Since there is no hard and fast rule to which safety order is applicable, where a conflict occurs as to which is applicable, the precise industry Safety Order can be applied. Some of the most usually mentioned GISOs are as follows:

COVID-19 (AB 685)

Coming into effect on January 1, 2021, the AB 685 increases the authority of the Cal/OSHA to make Orders Prohibiting Use (OPU) for workstations that suggest certain risks of some impending danger associated with COVID-19.

The law also demands employers to offer notice within a business day of likely exposure to COVID-19 in the workplace to every employee present at the workstation within the communicable period that may have been open to the viral infection. What’s more, the AB 685 improves reporting benchmarks to domestic health agencies in the occurrence of a COVID-19 pandemic in the work environment.

To Cap it all

Again, where you perceive a violation of the workplace safety requirements to have been violated, it’s advisable you file a complaint with the Cal/OSHA. It is not unlikely that you might have been a victim of workplace hazards due to your employer’s lip-service to workplace safety. If that’s the case, you may want to contact a labor and employment attorney to help you consider the steps available to you in your specific situation.

 

©2022 Jaurigue Law Group. All rights reserved.