Bill Text: CA AB1561 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Occupational safety and health: citation outcome
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)
Status: (Vetoed) 2010-01-14 - Consideration of Governor's veto stricken from file. [AB1561 Detail]
Download: California-2009-AB1561-Enrolled.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 1561 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 1, 2009
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 3, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 26, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Committee on Labor and Employment (Monning (Chair),
Eng, Furutani, Ma, and Portantino)
MARCH 11, 2009
An act to amend Section 6325 of, and to add Section 6333 to, the
Labor Code, relating to employment.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1561, Committee on Labor and Employment. Occupational safety
and health: citation outcome analysis.
Existing law, the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of
1973, establishes enforcement procedures for the requirements
related to safe and healthful working conditions for Californians.
The Division of Occupational Safety and Health of the Department of
Industrial Relations is charged with enforcing occupational health
and safety laws, orders, and standards, including the investigation
of alleged violations of those provisions.
Existing law requires the division, when it decides that a place
of employment, machine, device, apparatus, or equipment constitutes
an imminent hazard to employees, to prohibit entry to the workplace
or use of the machine, device, apparatus, or equipment.
This bill would specify that a place of employment may be deemed
dangerous because a particular machine, device, apparatus, or piece
of equipment, as well as a condition or practice in a place of
employment, constitutes an imminent hazard to employees.
Existing law requires the Director of Industrial Relations to
prepare and submit to the Legislature, not later than March 1, an
annual report on the activities of the division, including, among
other components, the total inspections made and citations issued;
the number of civil penalties assessed, total amount of fines
collected, and the number of appeals heard; and information contained
in a specified report prepared by the Bureau of Investigations of
the division.
This bill would require the division to collaborate with the
Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board of the department to
prepare an annual report analyzing the outcomes of citations and
other notifications to employers appealed by those employers to the
board by employers during the immediately prior calendar year. The
division would be required to present the written report, not later
than March 1 of each year, to the Speaker of the Assembly and the
Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Rules for assignment to the
appropriate committee or committees for evaluation.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 6325 of the Labor Code is amended to read:
6325. When, in the opinion of the division, a place of employment
is dangerous to employees because of a condition or practice, or
because a machine, device, apparatus, or piece of equipment or any
part thereof is in a dangerous condition, is not properly guarded, or
is dangerously placed so that the condition or practice of the
workplace or the machine, device, apparatus, or equipment constitutes
an imminent hazard to employees, entry therein, or the use thereof,
as the case may be, shall be prohibited by the division, and a
conspicuous notice to that effect shall be attached thereto. The
prohibition of use shall be limited to the immediate area in which
the imminent hazard exists, and the division shall not prohibit any
entry in or use of a place of employment, machine, device, apparatus,
or piece of equipment, or any part thereof, which is outside the
area of imminent hazard. The notice shall not be removed except by an
authorized representative of the division, nor until the place of
employment, machine, device, apparatus, or equipment is made safe and
the required safeguards or safety appliances or devices are
provided. This section shall not prevent the entry or use with the
division's knowledge and permission for the sole purpose of
eliminating the dangerous conditions.
SEC. 2. Section 6333 is added to the Labor Code, to read:
6333. (a) The division shall collaborate with the appeals board
to prepare an annual report that analyzes the outcomes of each
citation, notification of failure to abate, special order, and order
to take special action that satisfies all of the following:
(1) It was appealed to the appeals board by the employer to whom
the notification of whichever type was issued.
(2) It had a docket number issued in the immediately prior
calendar year.
(3) It was reviewed factually and legally in a prehearing
conference or in an administrative hearing.
(4) Its outcome was memorialized in a written order of decision.
(b) The division shall present, not later than March 1 of each
year, the written report analyzing the outcomes of the prior year to
the Speaker of the Assembly and the Chairperson of the Senate
Committee on Rules for assignment to the appropriate committee or
committees for evaluation.
SEC. 3. It is the intent of the Legislature that the report
prepared each year pursuant to this act be similar to the winter 1999
report entitled "Outcomes Analysis of Pre-Hearing Conferences and
Administrative Law Hearings Involving Cal/OSHA Citations" prepared by
the Division of Occupational Safety and Health of the Department of
Industrial Relations. However, the report prepared pursuant to this
act is intended to include all the citations, orders, and other
notifications that satisfy the criteria specified in the act, rather
than just a sample of them, as were analyzed in the 1999 report.
