Proposed Bill to Establish Working Conditions for Indoor Workers in California

June 18, 2016

https://calaborlawnews.com/legal-news/division-of-occupational-safety-health-connie-leyva-21545.php

Sacramento, CA: We should know in a little more than a year what Cal-OSHA, the Division of Occupational Safety and Health for the state of California, comes up with in terms of proposals to regulate indoor working conditions with an aim to setting standards for workers who toil indoors.

Such a standard for outdoor workers has been on the books since 2005 - and regularly revisited - in an effort to protect outdoor farm and construction workers from the often intense heat and high sun associated with toiling out in the fields or within a hot construction site. Meal breaks and rest periods, the availability of water and the provision for shaded areas have all been aimed at avoiding heat exhaustion - or worse - heat-related deaths.

Now, Senator Connie Leyva (D-Chino) wants the same kind of standards for indoor workers. Leyva claims that employers such as Amazon, which boasts a climate-controlled and managed environment within its fulfillment centers, are actually in the minority.

Sun exposure within the context of an indoor working environment is not an issue. But temperature can be - either too hot or too cold, with the potential for stale air in both situations. The San Bernardino Sun (5/7/16) reports that in a 2011 survey of workers by Warehouse Workers United, a majority of respondents claimed that excessive heat and cold were a problem, with indoor temperatures reaching as high as 125 degrees Farenheit on occasion.

Critics of the proposed bill claim that such efforts would inhibit growth in the inland logistics industry and hurt the economy. But Leyva isn’t advocating that employers install expensive climate-control systems in their facilities.

Rather, she seeks a set of standards akin to those currently protecting outside workers. The timing of rest periods - and the frequency thereof - would be governed by temperatures in the building. Access to cold water would be another requirement, together with the availability of a climate-controlled “retreat area” to which a worker could retire for a few minutes for relief from excessive heat or excessive cold.

Leyva told the San Bernardino Sun that benchmarks are needed for even so-called “good” employers who advocate for their employees, and play by the rules. “Even good employers don’t have a standard - what kind of access to water, what is the acceptable temperature?” Leyva said in comments published by the San Bernardino Sun.

“The (Division of Occupational Safety and Health) would come up with and propose a standard,” Leyva continued. “I don’t believe they would say, ‘Put in a multimillion-dollar system.’”

Leyva’s bill calls for Cal-OSHA to come up with a set of proposals by July 1 of next year.

*For more information, please visit www.BeverlyHillsEmploymentLaw.com