This month the Cal/OSHA Standards Board will convene an Advisory Committee to consider the 4th draft of its Walking/Working Surfaces Regulation. These revisions are necessary to meet Federal OSHA requirements and prevent falls. The Association’s President/CEO Roger A. Isom was asked by Cal/OSHA to sit on the committee and will be participating. Walking/Working Surfaces include but are not limited to:
- Floors
- Stairways
- Steps
- Roofs
- Ramps
- Runways
- Aisles
- Scaffolds
- Dock plates
- Step bolts
The draft proposal would revise and update several safety orders, including definitions, guardrails and toeboards, guard rails and fall protection at elevated levels, personal fall protection systems, falling object protection, fall protection training requirements, roof and floor openings, service pits, and yard surface openings, stair railings and handrails, and stairways. Agricultural buildings including cotton gins, tree nut hullers and processors, and packing houses all will be affected by the proposed changes. The latest FedOSHA requirements were adopted in 2017 and Cal/OSHA must adopt these changes.