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CHA recently submitted a comment letter to the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) on its draft regulations for minimizing heat-related illness among workers in indoor places of employment.
For the past two years, DOSH has been holding advisory committee meetings to solicit stakeholder input for the development of a proposed regulation. This process was required by Labor Code § 6720, enacted by Senate Bill 1167 (Chapter 839, Statutes of 2016). CHA has participated in this process since its inception, urging DOSH to consider hospital-specific issues and joining CalChamber in its advocacy.
On Jan. 29, DOSH distributed the seventh revision of the draft language. As written, all employers — including hospitals and health systems — would be required to have an indoor heat illness prevention plan in place so long as there are work areas where the temperature exceeds 82 degrees. Given the direction of the most recent draft discussion document, CHA joined the CalChamber comment letter in addition to submitting a separate comment letter. In its coalition letter, CalChamber identified numerous issues and concerns that were not addressed in — or were created by — the recent revisions. The coalition requested that DOSH schedule another in-person advisory meeting to resolve the myriad complex concerns that remain outstanding.
In addition, CHA wrote separately to again press its request that DOSH limit the current proposed regulation to high-risk workplaces, such as warehouses.
Hospitals should continue to monitor this issue.
