{"id":8705,"date":"2024-02-01T18:05:56","date_gmt":"2024-02-01T23:05:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/?p=8705"},"modified":"2024-02-01T19:28:56","modified_gmt":"2024-02-02T00:28:56","slug":"whither-cal-osha-ground-breaking-standards-but-no-one-to-enforce-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2024\/02\/01\/whither-cal-osha-ground-breaking-standards-but-no-one-to-enforce-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Whither Cal\/OSHA? Ground-breaking Standards, but No One to Enforce Them"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Guest Contributor Garrett Brown<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

C<\/span>al\/OSHA is yet again looking for a new Chief \u2013 the third time in five years.<\/p>\n

Former Chief Jeff Killip departed on January 19th after a two-year stint, returning to Washington state government and leaving Cal\/OSHA with almost 40% vacancies in field enforcement staff.<\/p>\n

Cal\/OSHA\u2019s current predicament reflects the longstanding schizophrenic existence of an agency is often viewed as the \u201cpremier state plan\u201d for its first-in-the-nation regulations but lacks the critical staff needed to enforce the law.<\/p>\n

What lies ahead for Cal\/OSHA and for the workers it is mandated to protect?<\/p>\n

Cal\/OSHA is one of 21 states that are authorized by OSHA to run their own public and private sector OSHA programs<\/a>. The Occupational Safety and Health Act requires those states to run programs that are “at least as effective” as the federal program.<\/p>\n

California’s OSHA program has historically stood out for its pathbreaking health and safety standards, many issued long before federal OSHA is able to issue similar standards to protect the rest of the country’s workers. For example, Cal\/OSHA has issued standards to protect workers from airborne infectious diseases, musculoskeletal disorders, heat and workplace violence — all regulations that federal OSHA does not yet have.<\/p>\n

Innovative worker protection standards are great. But agencies need staff to enforce their standards. A years-long understaffing crisis is undermining the ability of California’s worker protection agency to do its job and to implement and enforce newly issued standards to prevent acute silicosis, to prevent indoor heat illness, and to update the decades-old lead poisoning regulation.\u00a0\u00a0Cal\/OSHA\u2019s continuous vacancies in field inspectors, essential administrative staff, and managers at local and regional levels have consistently undermined its ability to effectively enforce either old or new regulations, and to be a meaningful deterrent to irresponsible employers.<\/p>\n

Cal\/OSHA\u2019s continuous vacancies in field inspectors, essential administrative staff, and managers at local and regional levels have consistently undermined its ability to effectively enforce either old or new regulations, and to be a meaningful deterrent to irresponsible employers.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A wave of generational retirements at Cal\/OSHA began before the Covid pandemic struck, but a tsunami of Covid-related worker complaints and illness reports during 2020-2022 overwhelmed Cal\/OSHA.\u00a0 District Managers went into desperate triage management mode, while the reduced corps of Compliance Safety and Health Officers (CSHOs) — Cal\/OSHA’s inspectors —\u00a0 struggled to keep up, knowing that their ability to do more than the bare minimum was very limited.\u00a0 The agency remained riddled with critical vacancies<\/a> and a crippling workload throughout 2023.<\/p>\n

As of January 1, 2024, Cal\/OSHA had 111 vacancies in the compliance safety and health officer positions<\/a> which conduct field inspections of worker complaints, worker injuries and illness, and planned inspections of hazardous workplaces.\u00a0 The vacancy rate of 38.5% means there are only 170 full-time equivalent CSHOs for more than 19 million workers in California, for a ratio of 1 inspector to every 113,000 workers.<\/p>\n

By comparison, the state of Washington has a ratio of 1 inspector to every 27,000 workers, and Oregon has a ratio of 1 inspector to every 26,000 workers.\u00a0 The also-understaffed federal OSHA currently has a ratio of 1 inspector to every 90,000 workers.\u00a0 In 1980, federal OSHA had a ratio of 14.8 CSHOs per million workers \u2013 forty-four years later, Cal\/OSHA has a ratio of 8.7 CSHOs per million workers.<\/p>\n

According to the latest available Cal\/OSHA organization chart<\/a>, eight enforcement District Offices have CSHO vacancy rates at or above 40% — San Francisco (67%), San Bernardino (57%), Bakersfield (50%), Santa Ana (50%), Fremont (45%), Los Angeles (44%), and both the PSM Refinery and Non-Refinery units (40%).\u00a0 Seven more District Offices have CSHO vacancy rates between 33% and 40% — American Canyon, Foster City, Mining & Tunneling unit, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego, and Van Nuys.<\/p>\n

Three District Offices \u2013 Cal\/OSHA\u2019s basic enforcement unit \u2013 are without a District Manager (Fresno, Monrovia, and Santa Ana LETF), while the Los Angeles District Office has zero clerical staff.\u00a0 These leadership and administrative vacancies \u2013 which have been present at various District Offices throughout the state for years now \u2013 severely impede Cal\/OSHA\u2019s ability to meet its mandate and mission.<\/p>\n

Adverse Impacts of Chronic Understaffing <\/strong><\/h2>\n

The years of chronic understaffing have impacted Cal\/OSHA\u2019s effectiveness in several ways:<\/p>\n