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The environmental ill will between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the nation’s most populous state, California, has spilled over from the Clean Air Act (CAA) to the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).
With the exception of a waiver denial in 2007—which was later reversed—the EPA has granted every request California has made since the first request was granted in 1968 to allow the state to set its own vehicle emissions standards. That record is now ended with the EPA’s final rule that withdraws its January 2013 waiver […]
Following several stern tweets from President Donald Trump, the EPA and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) have put the California Air Resources Board (CARB) on notice that the voluntary framework the state reached with four major automakers “appears to be inconsistent with federal law.” The EPA/DOT letter urged CARB to disassociate itself from the […]
Concerns are growing about two occupational health issues: the increased incidence of heat stress and valley fever, a fungal lung infection caused by exposure to dust storms and excavated soil. Cases of valley fever may be spreading beyond the southwestern United States. Some federal agencies and nongovernmental groups claim the rise in heat-related illness and […]
California employers are not required to pay for slip-resistant shoes their employees must wear for work, a state appeals court affirmed. Similar exemptions exist at the federal level.
California regulators adopted an emergency standard requiring employers to protect workers from wildfire smoke. A bill introduced in the U.S. Senate could lead to a similar standard nationwide.
Participants in a workers’ compensation fraud scheme were recently sentenced in federal court in San Diego, California. Dozens of marketers, doctors, lawyers, and medical service providers conspired to bilk the workers’ compensation system in California, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California.
California employers must protect their employees who work outdoors from heat stress under the state’s heat illness prevention regulations, the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) warned June 5. Cal/OSHA reminded employers of their obligations under state regulations as the National Weather Service (NWS) issued heat advisories for triple-digit temperatures in Fresno, Kern, Kings […]
California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) has revised its draft indoor heat illness prevention standard to address stakeholders’ concerns. Employers would have to maintain the indoor temperature and heat index below 87 degrees Fahrenheit when workers are present under the standard.
The California State Assembly has passed a bill requiring California employers to supply respirators to protect their outdoor workers from wildfire smoke.