Court Affirms Multi-Employer Law
September 20, 2011
WORKSAFE PREVAILS IN KEY HEALTH AND SAFETY LEGAL BATTLE
Third District Court of Appeal ruling caps four and half years of litigation
Oakland, CA – On September 16, 2011, Worksafe, Inc. won a hard-fought legal victory. California’s Third District Court of Appeal upheld a Superior Court writ establishing that the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board (OSHAB) improperly ruled when it made it more difficult for the government to enforce safety and health regulations against controlling employers on multi-employer worksites.
According to the law, an employer who is responsible, by contract or through actual practice, for safety and health conditions on a jobsite, must protect all workers exposed to the hazards, not just the employer’s own employees.
Read more...“The controlling employer can’t put its head in the sand and disclaim all responsibility for dangerous hazards just because those hazards are created by another employer,” said Gail Bateson, Executive Director of Worksafe, an Oakland-based nonprofit that advocates for workplace safety and health. “This decision reinforces that principle. It’s a real victory for workers.”
Workers Memorial Day 2011
April 27, 2011
Dying At Work In California: The Hidden Stories Behind The Numbers
One year ago, Hans Petersen, a 30-year old solar panel installer, stepped backwards off the roof of a multi-story apartment building in San Pablo, California. He was not wearing personal fall protection equipment and fell to his death.
In October 2010, two Northern California healthcare workers died in separate incidents of workplace violence. Cynthia Barraca Palomata, a registered nurse, was attacked and killed by an inmate at the Martinez county jail after he faked a seizure and was taken to the nurse’s station. That same month, Donna Gross, a psychiatric technician, was strangled and killed by an inmate at Napa State Hospital. The Napa facility had been under scrutiny for many years, with co-workers reporting that assaults by patients were common and that the murder was “waiting to happen.”
Last month, a Stockton judge accepted a plea deal allowing criminal defendants to escape any jail time in the 2008 heat death of pregnant 17-year old farm worker Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez. Maria Isabel died of a heat-related illness after working nine straight hours, without access to water or shade, in the boiling heat of the grape fields of Stockton.
These stories of Californians who died at work are profiled in “Dying at Work in California: The Hidden Stories Behind the Numbers,” a publication produced by Worksafe and the Southern California Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (SoCalCOSH), to be released on Workers Memorial Day, April 28, 2011.
Read more...OSHA Audit Reveals Major Flaws
September 28th, 2010
Federal Report Finds Major Flaws in State’s Worker Safety Program
Oakland, California - The long-awaited release today of a federal OSHA audit report of the California Occupational Safety and Health Program, Cal/OSHA, confirms many of the shortcomings and deficiencies in our state program that Worksafe urged federal OSHA to investigate.
While California has historically been a leader in health and safety on the job, recent budget cuts and government hiring freezes, combined with a recalcitrant Appeals Board, has left the agency without the core expert staffing needed to carry out its mission and an overworked and demoralized staff along with a workforce of over 16 million Californians without effective protections from serious workplace hazards. Gail Bateson, Executive Director of Worksafe, observed that “While our state hasn’t experienced large scale deaths of groups of workers like those killed at Massey Coal Mine, Tesoro Refinery, or the BP Deepwater oil platform disasters, as the federal report shows, the deterioration of our basic safety programs puts everyone who reports to a job at increased risk.”
Read more...Fewer and Smaller Heat Fines from CAL-OSHA
Fewer and Smaller Heat Fines from CAL-OSHA as Deaths Rise
July 29, 2010 | John Sepulvado | Capital Public Radio
Now, farm worker organizers are looking for increased protections. Three of those deaths occurred in the Central Valley. Two men died in Riverside County. All but one of the men worked on farms, and all but one of the men were middle aged.
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Meal & Rest Break Rights Decision Coming
California Supreme Court Set To Address Workers’ Meal And Rest Break Rights
May 27th, 2010 | Patrick R. Kitchin | W-F Blog
The California Supreme Court is expected to render a decision in the Brinker v. Superior Court case later this year that will answer critical legal questions about the meal and rest break rights of hourly workers in California.
At issue in the case is when and under what circumstances workers are entitled under California law to rest and meal breaks.
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Three Cal/OSHA Rulemaking Packages Soon
Cal-OSHA Reporter
April 29, 2010
It looks to be a busy spring and summer on the Cal/OSHA regulatory front, with the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) expected to promulgate three major rulemaking packages soon.
DOSH is in the final stages of crafting an affirmative defense for controlling employers on multiemployer worksites, a revamping of the division’s penalty structure for employers who receive Cal/OSHA citations, and a Director’s regulation clarifying what constitutes a serious violation.
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Workers' Memorial Day with Worksafe
Workers’ Memorial Day Makes Sure Workplace Dead Aren’t Forgotten
Cal/OSHA Reporter
May 6, 2010
OAKLAND — Numbers play an important role in occupational safety and health. For instance, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics tells us that 61 more workers died in California in 2008 than were originally reported (see p. 9744). But sometimes lost in those numbers are the names of the dead and injured. Each year, labor makes sure those names aren’t forgotten by holding Workers’ Memorial Day (WMD) events throughout the state and nation.
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Court Ruling Affirms Liability for Jobsite Injuries
Court ruling affirms liability for jobsite injuries
By Ben Keller
The Business Journal
Monday, 19 April 2010 11:35
Construction sites are usually cluttered with workers from various companies collaborating on everything from insulation to plumbing to the electrical components of a building. As a result, the jobsite is often riddled with confusion over who’s responsible for safe work conditions and who is liable when injuries occur.
Read more...Appeals Board Erred on Harris Decision
Judge Says Appeals Board Erred on Harris DAR, Orders New Decision
Cal-OSHA Reporter
Friday, March 26, 2010
SACRAMENTO — California’s Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board overstepped its bounds when it sided with an employer and ruled in 2007 that the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) must prove that so-called “controlling employers” are in a position to abate specific hazards on multiemployer worksites, a Sacramento Superior Court judge has concluded.
Read more...Safety Board Accused of Pro-Business Bias
Cal/OSHA appeals panel tends to side with employers in cases of workplace injury, the head of the Senate's Labor Committee says.
By Jessica Garrison
Los Angeles Times
March 10, 2010
The head of the state Senate's Labor Committee accused a workplace safety board Wednesday of being biased toward employers and ignoring a law that requires fines for failing to report on-the-job injuries.
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