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New Work Place Safety Laws take Effect in California

New Work Place Safety Laws take Effect in California
With the start of the New Year, there are new safety laws that have been enforced at work places. A complete revision of California's labor law will make it easier for Cal/OSHA to look into and investigate the serious violations of work place safety.

The labor law attorney for California Chamber of Commerce is Susan Kemp. A list of new laws is compiled by the Chamber each year. Employers need to know all the new changes made in this list.

According to Kemp, the boost to the state's worker safety agency enforcement power applies mainly to those companies that own and operate heavy equipment. “Any type of machinery that involves anything that can pinch you, push you, cut you, smash body parts, anything with the height that you can fall, tunneling, people in ditches where there's a cave-in, those kinds of things”, Kemp said.

A new safety standard will be enforced this year to prevent farm workers from getting sick from the heat. All farm and orchard managers will have to provide each of their workers with a quart of water every hour. Also, five minutes of rest should be granted to the employee if they ask for it.

These new heat illness prevention standards in California actually took effect in November. However, the agency will have no reason to enforce them until the weather heats up in the summer.

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