OSHA pressuring Cal/OSHA on repeat violations

Last spring, the U.S. Government Accountability Office took OSHA to task for failing to adequately supervise states that have chosen to retain responsibility for their own occupational safety and health regulation.

OSHA pledged to do better and has increased its oversight. As the law firm Jackson Kelly recently reported, the fallout has been felt in California, which has its own OSHA. The issue concerns the way that Cal/OSHA defines a repeat violation. Under California rules, to be considered repeat, a violation must occur again at the same facility within three years. For businesses without a fixed facility, such as a construction company, the repeat violation has to occur within the same Cal/OSHA region.

Federal OSHA has a different approach and will issue a repeat violation if an employer has been cited for the same or substantially similar hazard anywhere within federal jurisdiction within the past five years.

“Federal OSHA is pressuring Cal/OSHA to align with the federal repeat criteria and base a repeat classification off prior violations statewide,” according to Jackson Kelly. Cal/OSHA is holding a public hearing on the issue, but has not yet proposed a regulatory revision.