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The Cal/OSH
Standards Board approved the permanent
version of its landmark heat illness standard
for outdoor employees June 15. The vote was
significant enough to prompt Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger to hold press conference in the
state Capitol to announce the adoption just
minutes after the board voted.
The
regulation, which has been in place in largely
the same form since last August as an
emergency standard, requires employers to
provide workers access to potable drinking
water of at least one quart per hour for the
entire shift. Employers providing plumbed
water are not bound by the quantity
requirement.
The standard
also requires employers to provide shade for
employees who are either
suffering
from heat illness or who need a
"preventive recovery period."
Non-agriculture industries are allowed to
provide alternative cooling methods, such as
misting machines, but the burden will be on
employers to demonstrate that they are as
effective as the shade requirement. DOSH
Acting Chief Len Welsh told the board that the
Division will cite employers if the
alternatives are found not to be at least as
effective.
The heat
illness regulation also requires employers to
train workers and supervisors on the risk
factors for heat illness, how to avoid it, the
employer's procedures for complying with the
standard and emergency procedures if an
employee becomes ill.
The permanent
standard adoption was timed so that it can
take effect before the emergency standard
expires in August. It now goes to California's
Office of Administrative Law (OAL) to make
sure it complies with the state's
Administrative Procedures Act. OAL has 30 days
to act on the adoption and it will set the
effective date of the standard.
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