Compliance Strategies - 2008
California has a unique and independent OSHA program with aggressive enforcement against employers in the state. Business
and government employers need specific training on Cal/OSHA compliance and inspection management to
avoid substantial penalties and accident related liability. Dufour Seminars’ Cal/OSHA Management &
Compliance 2008 is designed to train managers and others involved in employee safety in the essential
elements of California’s unique OSHA program and how to prevent accidents and use such diligence as a
defense.
You Can’t Afford To Ignore Cal/OSHA
Unless you run a federal installation, Fed/OSHA does not conduct inspections in this state and its standards are irrelevant as
Cal/OSHA has its own thousand pages of safety orders which are substantially different (more standards
and more detail compared to comparable federal standards). For example, did you know that under AB
1127 and the state’s unique Injury & Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) Standard [8 CCR §3203] an
employer must anticipate foreseeable accidents and devise controls or work practices to prevent injuries or suffer an $18,000
penalty?
Cal/OSHA’s High
Hazard Units Pose New Challenges
If you have a serious accident, a higher than average workers comp experience modification or Log 300 incidence rate, or are
in a targeted industry, particularly onerous wall-to-wall and plant-by-plant inspection tactics of the High Hazard Units result in
dozens of citations issued by these units and their penalties are usually in the $50,000 to $100,000 range.
Accident Prevention Strategy Solves Cal/OSHA Problems
An employer which has an active and well documented accident prevention program as part of its IIPP can virtually always
effectively defend against Serious Citations and even more onerous workers comp serious and willful claims by proving
reasonable diligence and/or employee negligence. Attendees will learn what to do and how to document accident prevention.
Cal/OSHA Has Unique Requirements and Tough Enforcement
The following are examples where employers who don't know Cal/OSHA frequently get into trouble:
- Self-reporting of any serious injury within 8 hours is required compared to Fed/OSHA’s three serious injuries from the same accident and is enforced with a $5,000 mandatory penalty.
- An accident-related serious violation carries a mandatory minimum $18,000 fine based on AB 1127 and any serious citation can result in a penalty ranging from $2700 to $25,000. Note: Unlike Fed/OSHA, Cal/OSHA does not have to prove the employer knew or should have known about a violation for it to be serious, but an accident prevention program showing reasonable diligence is a defense.
- Multi-employer madness is how Cal/OSHA’s policy of issuing citations to all employers involved in a worksite accident or standard violations, including the host or controlling employer has been described.
- Governmental employers are fully subject to Cal/OSHA citations and penalties.
- A willful violation which causes death or serious injury is a felony in California and can result in imprisonment of a manager or supervisor and a $250,000 fine and a $1.5 million fine to the corporate employer. Note: One business owner has been sentenced to 9 years in state prison, others have “copped pleas” for huge fines and probation, and several have been prosecuted but acquitted at trial.
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