• Regulations of Note
• Recommended Safety and Health Professionals
• Net Resources
• Publications
• Goverment Sites
• Safety Organizations
• Safety Aids

  USEFUL LINKS

Regulations of Note:

336.12 Affirmative defense for controlling employers at construction worksites DRAFT - February 9, 2009

Emergency Heat Stress Regulation - Title 8 CCR section 3395

Recommended Safety and Health Professionals: (in alphabetical order)

Al Clancy & Associates
Al Clancy is a leading go-to guy on industrial health issues. Al is a Certified Industrial Hygienist with a Masters in Public Health degree from UC Berkeley. Although primarily in private practice in his Oakland, CA office, he frequently teaches at the University of Hong Kong and has consulted on public health issues with the People's Republic of China. Al's communication skills are exceptional. He is equally as effective in the board room as he is on the shop floor. He offers a full range of services, including testing and monitoring, evaluation of work practices and shop configuration to eliminate or reduce exposures, and training.
(510) 893-9695

BioMax Environmental
BioMax Environmental provides professional environmental consulting and industrial hygiene services to clients covering a wide range of industries, trades, technologies, organizations, and environmental concerns. We are most familiar with Mike Polkabla, CIH, REA and are very pleased with his work.
www.biomaxenvironmental.com

Dave Smith & Company  
Dave is both an excellent CSP (Certified Safety Professional) and a good friend. Equally effective on the shop floor and in the board room, Dave combines an encyclopedic knowledge of regulatory requirements and tried-and-true practical "fixes" for safety problems.
www.davesmithco.com

Bob Lapidus, Lapidus Safety Consulting
Bob Lapidus, CSP, does many things very well but he excels at communicating and, thus, training, whether it be the details of machine guarding or the “big picture” of safety management. His approach is simple: What does the regulation require? Are you doing that? What more needs to be done to move beyond minimal compliance to insure a safe working environment? www.lapidussafety.com

Health & Safety Risk Management Services
Michael E. Williams, CIH, CSP, ARM has the ability to find problems, and provide effective solutions, before they become accidents. His experience includes working on "the other side of the fence" with Fed and Cal/OSHA, as international safety and health manager for a major Silicon Valley manufacturer, and as a volunteer firefighter. Mike is a nationally recognized and published expert in the semiconductor industry and, since moving to the wine country, is becoming knowledgeable about safety and health issues in the wine industry. (707) 433-7048 or mikewehs@aol.com

Praetorian Protective Services  
Eugene Tucker and his staff have provided safety services to their clients for over 20 years, with an emphasis on the safety and health aspects of disaster recovery. They excel as well at drafting written safety programs tailored to the client's circumstances and needs. We recommend them also for safety planning and training.
www.praetoriansecurity.com

Net Resources:

Martindale.com Tools 
Martindale Hubble began as a service providing insurance companies and corporations with references to reliable counsel. With the advent of the internet MH is now available to everyone. Lawyers who wish to be listed on MH must pay for the privilege, but they cannot buy MH's most important service: Its peer ratings. MH submits the names of attorneys who wish to be rated to other attorneys in the general area and the results are collated by ability and ethics. Ability is rated in descending order from A (highest) to C (acceptable). The attorney's ethical standards are rated as either V (very high) or nothing.

Use this link and check us out. You can also find articles on various legal subjects at this site.

OSH.net, and 
OccupationalHazards.com 
News and resources for safety & health professionals

ErgoWeb, Inc, and 
Ergoworld 
As their names imply, news and resources on ergonomics.

Publications:

Cal/OSHA Reporter
Hands down, the best source of news and information on Cal/OSHA. Published weekly, COR includes news, safety aids, listings of calendar events and S & H vendors, and excellent summaries of Appeals Board decisions.

Condor OSHA Guides
Concise, well-written basic guides to the requirements and procedures of the Federal, California, Oregon and Washington OSHA programs.

National Acadamies Press
Good source of books and publications on occupational safety-related topics.

Government Sites:

Calif. Division of Occupational Safety & Health (DOSH): 
The arm of Cal/OSHA that enforces, and advises employers about, the regulations. Information on Cal/OSHA's regulations, policies and procedures manual, forms, interpretive letters, a link to the regulations and FAQ's.

Calif. OSH Standards Board
The arm of Cal/OSHA that writes the regulations. Calendars of public meetings, current proposals, archives, and a link to the regulations. 

Calif. OSH Appeals Board
The arm of Cal/OSHA that hears employers's appeals (but is independent from both DOSH and the Standards Board). Information on the appeal process and selected Decisions After Reconsideration (called "DARs").

Fed/OSHA
The agency that enforces the federal occupational safety and health laws, and oversees the states's plans. Information on a wide variety of subjects, including interpretive letters and materials, with links to the federal regulations and forms.

Establishment search
Type in any company's name and search criteria to see its inspection and citation experience. Some companies use this site in deciding which of several bidders are acceptable. I recommend that you check your own company's history from time to time, because sometimes Fed/OSHA gets things wrong.

Safety Organizations:

ASSE San Jose, and 
ASSE San Francisco 
The American Society of Safety Engineers is the largest professional society in the business of safety and health. Name an industry and I guarantee you it is represented here. The Society's members come together regularly to share their knowledge and experiences in open forums. Especially valuable to me have been the monthly meetings of the Construction Division of the SF Chapter.

NSMS Online, and
NSMS Golden Gate Chapter 
The National Safety Management Society's approach to education is in its name: This group focuses on the management of safety programs, their development and structure, rather than on fixes for specific problems. In this they compliment, rather than compete with, the ASSE. Good safety professionals (who have the time) are members of both. The Golden Gate Chapter is consistently the most active chapter of the national organization. If you are at all interested, I strongly recommend that you attend their luncheon meetings.

Safety Aids:

Cal/OSHA Rolling Scaffolding Checklist
Changes by Cal/OSHA to Title 8 California Code of Regulations sections 1637 and 1646 in 2009 make scaffold "surfing" easier to do legally, but only if a rigorous review of conditions and training is conducted beforehand. This checklist is intended to assist construction superintendents and foremen who will be responsible for compliance with these new requirements, and their safety consultants. As the footnote states, this is a safety aid, not legal advice.

Cal/OSHA Training and Instruction Requirements (1.4MB)
This listing complements the Safety Training Matrix provided by Paul Burnett, and was last updated by the Division in August 2005. One major difference between the two is that Paul's list includes active links to forms and other information you might need; the Division's does not. One handy feature of the Division's list is that it provides the definitions of "Qualified Person" and "Competent Person" at the end. If you find it difficult to remember the difference, this is helpful.