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Cal-OSHA to Revise Heat Safety Guidelines

Cal-OSHA to Revise Heat Safety Guidelines
The law dictates a number of rules and regulations, which ideally should be adhered to. However, in reality, just the opposite tends to happen. For example, the workers who have to work outside in the heat. These workers need shade, water and heat illness training for their safety and health. According to the critics, although these things are provided by law, in reality, these existing rules are too vague to meet the workers requirements.

As a result of this statement, California's Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board has decided to make the rules more specific adopting some revisions to current guidelines so that the workers can work comfortably and safely.

They have calculated some new regulations, for example:

Shade should be easily accessible and provided for at least 25-percent of employees in case of above 85-degrees temperatures. And above 90-degree temperature, plentiful water will be provided. If temperature goes higher than 95, for heat related illness, employees will be monitored more closely.

The workers at Cal-OSHA feel that to train the supervisors on these proposed changes is very crucial as far as effective implementation is concerned. Jim Lopes, a worker at Cal-OSHA said, "We found out in 2006 that if supervisors were trained, less cases resulted in fatality."

If approved, it will be a big a step taken that will have an impact on the Central Valley's farming community. To prepare for the new changes, state officials with more than 200,000 workers have already spent few months holding training seminars.

If all – from workers to top management really involve themselves in these new regulations, it will surely have a great impact on the workers safety and health.

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