Click here to jump directly to the Cal/OSHA regulations webpage if you want to find a particular regulation.
Click here to jump directly to the Regulations Under Development that WORKSAFE! is tracking.
INTRODUCTION. You may participate in developing regulations by attending REGULATORY ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETINGS. To find the most up to date official listing of regulatory advisory committee meetings, you need to look in 2 places. Click here to jump directly to the webpage for advisory committees regarding regulations (usually health) staffed by the Division of Occupational Safety & Health (Cal/OSHA) through their Research & Standards Unit. And click here to jump to the OSH Standards Board wepage that will lead you to the advisory committees regarding regulations (usually safety) staff by the OSH Standards Board. When you get to that page, you need to look at the listings on the left and click on Learn about upcoming advisory committees in order to see the committees that the OSH Standards Board is handling. There is no direct link to that page.
WORKSAFE! attends some of these meetings and your support is always welcome and appreciated.
You may also testify at hearings. Click here to jump to the official site of the OSH Standards Board for a list of hearing dates - the Board meets regularly around the state.
WANT TO FIND A SPECIFIC REGULATION or LAW? For California OSH laws and regulations, see OSH Statutes (Labor Code or go to www.leginfo.ca.gov and click on California Law and then check the box for Labor Code and enter a specific section you wish to find). See also OSH Regulations (Title 8 CCR) and select Cal/OSHA regulations (be sure to select the group of regulations that matches what you wish to find).
Click here to jump to the page listing regulations that WORKSAFE! is tracking.
Keep reading below to understand more about how this all works. Also, click here to read an interesting article about how INDUSTRY is fighting government regulation by fomenting scientific uncertainty. DOUBT Is Their Product is by David Michaels and was published in Scientific American, June, 2005, Vol. 292, Issue 6. If you want to read more by David Michaels, click here for the full article on which this was based. These tactics are being used all over the country including in California where INDUSTRY is fighting workers who are trying to gain better occupational safety and health protection.
To advocate for better occupational safety and health protection, WORKSAFE! assists the labor movement and other worker advocates in the legislative and regulatory processes in California. We also keep a close watch on Cal/OSHA, the administrative agency responsible for enforcing occupational safety and health in California and for issuing regulations that set minimum levels of safety and health protection. From time to time, WORKSAFE! also tracks federal legislation and standards. Links are provided below for current advocacy activity.
Please contact us if you would like to join WORKSAFE! and participate in our advocacy activities. If you let us know what topics interest you, we can send you e-mails if those topics come up in regulations (or legislation).
GET INVOLVED! Write a letter, testify, organize!
WORKSAFE! is actively involved with and sponsors some regulatory changes. It also tracks other California regulations related to occupational safety and health. Click here to see regulations we are tracking.
From time to time, WORKSAFE! also tracks federal regulations or standards. Click here to see federal regulations or standards we are tracking.
WORKSAFE! volunteers advocate for California regulations that improve occupational safety and health conditions for workers and protects workers who are injured, suffer retaliation as a result of injury or involvement in occupational safety and health advocacy, etc.
From time to time our volunteers draft regulations and submit petitions to the OSH Standards Board or another state agency or file a CASPA (Complaint Against a State Plan Agency) with Federal OSHA in order to adopt new, amend or repeal existing regulations. Usually, however, WORKSAFE! volunteers participate in the regulatory process along with other representatives from labor and management and experts from the health and safety professional community.
ADVOCACY includes attending meetings of various Cal/OSHA Regulatory Advisory Committees, writing letters, testifying at a hearing when the regulatory proposal is being considered by the OSH Standards Board, or even helping to mobilize workers who may be directly affected by a regulatory proposal to participate in the regulatory process (meetings, letters, testifying).
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN California occupational safety and health REGULATIONS, you need to keep track of what is being considered by Cal/OSHA or the OSH Standards Board. You can also let WORKSAFE! know if there is a particular regulatory area that is of interest to you, as we try to keep lists of interested individuals by occupational safety and health topic. If we hear about a regulation on a particular topic, we will try to notify you if we have your current e-mail address.
OSH Standards Board Activities
The Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board, a seven-member body appointed by the Governor, is the agency which sets standards (also called regulations) used by the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) as the basis for determining whether the employer is providing a safe place to work for his or her employees. The Standards Board holds hearings on proposals regarding regulations and makes decisions about new regulations, amendments to existing regulations, and repealing regulations. The Standards Board also has the responsibility to grant or deny applications for variances from adopted standards and respond to petitions for new or revised standards. The part-time, independent Board holds its monthly meetings in different locations around California, including Sacramento, Los Angeles, Oakland, and San Diego.
Advisory Committees on Regulations
Before the OSH Standards Board considers whether to adopt, amend or repeal a regulation, the regulatory proposal is often considered by an advisory committee made up of labor, management and experts from the health and safety professional community who are interested in or affected by the proposal. These advisory committees are staffed either by a Cal/OSHA or OSH Standards Board employee. These advisory committees are NOT required by law, but generally are utilized by Cal/OSHA or the OSH Standards Board to discuss regulations before the matter enters a more formal regulatory review process.
Regulatory Advisory Committees staffed by Cal/OSHA. Generally, but not always, these focus on health related regulations. For a listing of all meetings, click here. You will find this same link on the main Cal/OSHA page in the alphabetical listings on the left side of the page.
Regulatory Advisory Committees staffed by the OSH Standards Board.
Generally, but not always, these focus on safety related regulations. For a listing of all meetings, click here. You will find this same link on the main OSH Standards Board page in the alphabetical listing on the left side of the page. The staff member assigned to each regulatory advisory committee is listed as well.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED in receiving information about that particular regulatory advisory committee, CONTACT the staff person and ask to be placed on the mailing list. In this way you will receive notice of each meeting, the minutes, and a list of the Advisory Committee members. You can attend the meeting and participate fully even if you are NOT an official Advisory Committee member. Additionally, if your name is on the Advisory Committee mailing list, you will be provided with notice of the official regulatory proceeding if eventually a regulatory change is proposed.
After the Advisory Committee meets, the Cal/OSHA staff or OSH Standards Board staff prepares minutes and incorporates changes suggested by the Advisory Committee into the regulatory proposal. There may be several meetings before a final proposal is ready. Although these Advisory Committees are voluntary (the OSH law does not require them), and although there are no requirements for consensus, the staff tries to achieve consensus.
Worker participation - and participation by worker representatives - is key. When there are very few worker representatives who attend the Advisory Committee meetings, it is easier for the employer representatives to pressure the worker representatives towards a consensus.
After the Advisory Committee process is complete, the staff prepares a regulatory package. The staff must follow certain legal guidelines including providing adequate Notice. That Notice will be sent to you if you attended the Advisory Committee. OR, you can ask the Standards Board to send you a monthly packet with an Agenda and all proposed regulations, variances, and other matters that will be taken up by the OSH Standards Board at a monthly meeting.
Hearings on Proposed Regulations. The OSH Standards Board holds monthly meetings (hearings) usually, but not always, on the 3rd Thursday of each month in different locations around California, including Sacramento, Los Angeles, Oakland, and San Diego. If you want to keep track of the hearings, you may sign up with the OSH Standards Board and they will send you notices and minutes. Inquiries may be directed to the Executive Officer, Mike Manieri at (916) 274-5725. You can also e-mail the OSH Standards Board at oshsb@dir.ca.gov. Or write to them at:
Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board
2520 Venture Oaks Way, Suite 350
Sacramento, CA 95833
To find out the OSH Standards Board schedule in the near future, you will have to look around their website as there is not yet a convenient link telling you what is scheduled for future meetings, nor is there a convenient link for keeping track of when each regulation being considered by an Advisory Committee is scheduled for a hearing, nor is there a convenient list of what happens to each of those regulations as they proceed through the regulatory process. Try the OSH Standards Board meeting link at www.dir.ca.gov/oshsb/mtgsch04.html as a starting point.
Printer-Friendly Page
