by Carol Bach, CHMM

Northern California Chapter CHMMs gathered at Pedro's in Santa Clara for the Chapter's November Dinner Meeting. Our speaker, Mr. Jay Jamali of EnviroSafetech discussed some of the many recent and upcoming revisions to Cal/OSHA regulations that impact high tech and other industries, and challenged us with the ubiquitous question: Is your safety program Y2K compliant?

Most Frequently Cited Cal/OSHA Standards

Jay highlighted the Cal/OSHA standards for which violations are most frequently cited, including:

• Sec. 3203: The leader by far (over 2,000 violations in 1998, more than twice the number of violations cited for #2) is the Injury and Illness Prevention Plan (IIPP). It's the first thing that Cal/OSHA inspectors look for. Check your IIPP to make sure it includes all of the required components, and the it's tailored to your facility or operation. Your IIPP should not include safety practices that aren't applicable to your facility: If you say that you do it in your IIPP then you are in violation if you don't actually do it.
• Sec. 5194: Hazard Communication, including MSDS records maintenance, labeling, and other requirements.
• Sec. 6151: Requires inspection of fire extinguishers monthly. Many people are confused because this is not a fire code requirement; It is a Cal/OSHA requirement.
• Sec. 342: The required reporting time for serious injuries (employee hospitalized for more than 24 hours) has been reduced from 24 hours to 8 hours.
• Sec. 5162: Eye-washes have to be unlocked, located within 10 seconds' access, ANSI approved, and tested monthly.

New and Impending Regulations

New Cal/OSHA standards for blood-borne pathogens became effective in July '99, requiring use of sharps devices with "engineered sharps injury protection" (esip) and maintenance of a sharps injury log. The first citation under these regulations was recently issued to a hospital for failure to use esip. Check out the Cal/OSHA Fact Sheet (Cal-OSHA Reporter 66-203, 7/30/99) and link to a list of devices with esip at www.ohb.org/sharps.htm.

Since the Ergonomics standard (5110) was adopted, there have been many legal challenges. A recent court decision establishes it as a performance standard: If you develop and implement your ergonomic protection program in good faith, they you are in compliance. Another court decision removed the small employer exemption: Now all employers, no matter how many employees they have, are covered by the ergonomics standard. You still have to have a doctor make the determination that an injury is a "repetitive motion injury" (rmi), and the requirement for having a written ergonomic protection program is still triggered if you have two or more rmi/year.

As of May '99, there are many new requirements for respiratory protection programs. The written program must specify a change-out schedule for cartridge-type respirators. The program must identify a Respiratory Protection Program Administrator, with specific training requirements. There are new annual training requirements, substantially more stringent requirements for qualitative fit-testing, and many other changes.

The federal standards for confined space rescue have changed, so that now they are more stringent than the Cal/OSHA requirements. Under the new federal standards, if you are relying on outside responders (e.g. fire department, public emergency medical service) then you must evaluate the capacity and proficiency of the responder, inform prospective responders of the potential hazards at your facility, and offer site visits for the responder to become familiar with your facility.

Beginning July 2000, Cal/OSHA standards for forklift training will require operator competence evaluation every three years, and annual training only under certain conditions (an accident has occurred, unsafe driving is observed, new equipment, or other change in conditions).

The Workers Safety Reform Act (AB1127, effective January 1, 2000), allows Title 8 regulations to be entered as evidence in civil suits, and greatly expands the scope of employees who can initiate a formal Cal/OSHA complaint to include an employee's attorney, an environmental health and safety professional, a government official, union representative, or contractor. This legislation is expected to increase litigation and inspections: Cal/OSHA is required to inspect within 14 days of any serious violation and 10% of non-serious violations. Cal/OSHA has received increased funding, and will be hiring more inspectors to respond to the changes brought by this legislation. The new law also increases fines and jail terms for Cal/OSHA violations, and removes protection of government agencies from fines and penalties.

Other developments to watch for in 2000: Upcoming legislation will protect users of defibrillator units under a "good Samaritan" provision, and their use in the work-place will become much more common. There will be new equipment certification standards for SEMI S2. The ANSI laser standard will be modified.

Thanks, Jay, for an information-packed meeting! Those of you looking for more information can contact Jay at JayJam@environsafetech.com.