Cal-OSHA and Labor Code
Understanding the Law And Its Consequences
Alex Miller, ARM, OHST
Director of Safety Services
The Leavitt Group
Cal-OSHA: What is it?
• Cal-OSHA’s Mission Statement
• “We protect workers and the public from safety
hazards by enforcing California's occupational and
public safety laws, and we provide information and
consultative assistance to employers, workers and the
public about workplace and public safety matters”
Cal-OSHA: How is it Organized?
Cal-OSHA: Consultation
• The Cal/OSHA Consultation Service provides assistance to
employers and workers about workplace safety and health
issues through
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On-site assistance,
High hazard consultation and
Special emphasis programs, and
Develops educational materials on workplace safety and health
topics.
Cal-OSHA: Enforcement
• The Cal/OSHA Enforcement Unit conducts inspections of
California workplaces based on
• worker complaints,
• accident reports and
• high hazard industries.
• There are 22 Cal/OSHA Enforcement Unit district offices
located throughout the state of California.
• Specialized enforcement units
• These units augment the efforts of district offices in protecting California workers
from workplace hazards in high hazard industries. Some examples are;
• Mining and Tunneling Unit
• High Hazard Enforcement Unit
Cal-OSHA: BOI
• The function of the Bureau of Investigations (BOI) is to
conduct criminal investigations and to refer the results of
such investigations when appropriate to a City Attorney
or District Attorney for necessary action.
• The BOI shall investigate accidents involving violations in
which there is:
• A serious injury to three (3) or more employees;
• Death; or
• A request for prosecution by a Division representative.
Cal-OSHA
Violations
Violations: Types
Violations: Regulatory
• Regulatory Violation
• is a violation, that pertains to permit, posting,
recordkeeping, and reporting requirements.
• For example, failure to obtain permit; failure to post
citation, poster; failure to keep required records;
failure to report industrial accidents, etc.
Violations: General
• General Violation
• is a violation which is specifically determined not to be
of a serious nature, and probably would not result in
death or serious injury.
Violations: Serious Violation
• A “serious violation” shall be deemed to exist in
a place of employment if there is a substantial
probability that death or serious physical harm
could result from a violation, including, but not
limited to, circumstances where there is a
substantial probability that either of the
following could result in death or great bodily
injury:
Violations: Repeat Violation
• Repeat Violation
• is a violation where the employer has corrected, or
indicated correction of an earlier violation, for which a
citation was issued, and upon a later inspection is
found to have committed the same violation again
within a period of three years immediately preceding
the latter violation.
Violations: Willful Violation
• Willful Violation—
• is a violation where evidence shows that the employer
committed an intentional and knowing act, and the
employer is conscious of the fact that what he is doing
constitutes a violation of a safety law;
• or, even though the employer was not consciously
violating a safety law, he was aware that an unsafe or
hazardous condition existed and made no reasonable
effort to eliminate the condition.
Consequences for Violations
• Regulatory Violations
• In General
• Up to $7,000 for each violation
• For violation of Permit
• Minimum of $1,250 to $7,000
• Failure to report serious injury or death
• Minimum of $5,000
Consequences for Violations
• General Violations
• Up to $7,000 per violation
Consequences for Violations
• Serious Violation
• Initial base penalty of $18,000
• Adjusted for both Extent and Likelihood
• Low – 25% of Base is subtracted
• Medium – No adjustment
• High – 25% of base is added
• Up to $25,000 for each and every violation
• Adjustments are then made for size of company,
citation history, etc.
Consequences for Violations
• Failure to abate
• If a company does not fix the violation situation within
10 days, Cal-OSHA will add a penalty to the fine.
• $15,000 Daily penalty for each day issue not abated
Consequences for Violations
• Repeat Violation-• If a Regulatory, General, or Serious violation is repeated
the Proposed Penalty is adjusted upward as follows:
• 1st repeat-- Proposed Penalty is multiplied by 2.
• 2nd repeat--Proposed Penalty is multiplied by 4.
• 3rd repeat-- Proposed Penalty is multiplied by 10.
• The resultant penalty shall not exceed $70,000.
Consequences for Violations
• Willful Violation• If a Regulatory, General, or Serious violation is
determined to be willful the Proposed Penalty is
adjusted upward as follows:
• Regulatory, General and Serious--the Proposed Penalty is
multiplied by five. However, the penalty for any willful violation
shall not be less than $5,000 and shall not exceed $70,000.
Consequences for Violations
• A Repeat and/or Willful Violation Causing Death or
Serious Injury, Illness or Exposure—
• The computation of the Proposed Penalty for a willful
violation shall not be subject to reduction, where the
violation is determined by the Division to have caused
death or serious injury, illness or exposure within the
meaning of Labor Code section 6302.
Consequences for Violations
• Cal-OSHA’s Egregious Violation Policy
• For example: A company receives citation for exposed
rebar impalement hazard for 50 concrete pins that are
uncapped. There are 10 workers on the site.
• Result: Instead of 1 citation for an impalement hazard,
the company would receive 1 citation for each
unprotected concrete pin; 50 citations.
Labor Code
Consequences for Violations
Labor Code - Section 6423
• “… every employer and every officer, management official, or supervisor
having direction, management, control, or custody of any employment,
place of employment, or of any other employee, who does any of the
following is guilty of a misdemeanor: “
• Knowingly or negligently violates any standard, … which is deemed to be a
serious violation
• Repeatedly violates any standard, … which repeated violation creates a real
and apparent hazard to employees.
• Fails or refuses to comply, after notification and expiration of any abatement
period, with any such standard, … which failure or refusal creates a real and
apparent hazard to employees
• Knowingly fails to report to the division a death
• Directly or indirectly, knowingly induces another to commit any of the acts
above.
Consequences for Violations
Labor Code - Section 6423
• Individual Penalties for Violation
• Imprisonment for up to 6 months or fine up to $5,000 per
violation, or both, or
• Imprisonment for up to 1 year, or up to $15,000 fine per
violation, or both
• Corporate Penalties for Violation
• All criteria are the same, except the fines go up to $150,000
per violation.
Consequences for Violations
Labor Code - Section 6425
• If violation of 6425 resulted in a fatality, or caused permanent or
prolonged impairment, the person is guilty of a public offense
punishable by
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imprisonment in a county jail for a term not exceeding one year,
or by a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000),
or by both that imprisonment and fine;
or by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, or two or three
years,
• or by a fine of not more than two hundred fifty thousand dollars
($250,000),
• or by both that imprisonment and fine;
• and in either case, if the defendant is a corporation or a limited
liability company, the fine may not exceed $1,500,000.
Consequences for Violations
Labor Code - Section 6425
• If the violation is a repeated one within 7 years of the first
• The fine for the individual goes from $100,000 to $250,000
• The fine for the corporation goes from $1,500,000 to an amount not
to exceed $3,500,000
• This section does not prohibit prosecution under Section
192 of the Penal Code
• Manslaughter
Consequences for Violations
Labor Code – Section 6426
• Whoever knowingly makes any false statement, representation,
or certification in any application, record, report, plan, or other
document filed or required to be maintained pursuant to this
division shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more
than seventy thousand dollars ($70,000), or by imprisonment for
not more than six months, or by both.
Thank You
Questions?