6350-6359
LABOR CODE
SECTION 6350-6359
6350. The division shall maintain an education and research program for the purpose of providing in-service training of division personnel, safety education for employees and employers, research and consulting safety services. 6351. The division shall be responsible for preparation and distribution of information concerning occupational safety and health programs, methods, techniques or devices. Such information may include but is not limited to safety publications, films and audiovisual material, speeches and conferences on safety. 6352. The division shall provide safety training programs, upon request, for employees and employers. Priority for the development of safety training programs shall be in those occupations which pose the greatest hazard to the safety and health of employees. 6353. The division shall conduct continuing research into methods, means, operations, techniques, processes and practices necessary for improvement of occupational safety and health of employees. 6354. The division shall, upon request, provide a full range of occupational safety and health consulting services to any employer or employee group. These consulting services shall include: (a) A program for identifying categories of occupational safety and health hazards causing the greatest number and most serious preventable injuries and illnesses and workers' compensation losses and the places of employment where they are occurring. The hazards, industries, and places of employment shall be identified from the data system that is used in the targeted inspection program pursuant to Section 6314.1. The division shall develop procedures for offering consultation services to high hazard employers who are identified pursuant to this section. The services may include the development of educational material and procedures for reducing or eliminating safety and health hazards, conducting workplace surveys to identify health and safety problems, and development of plans to improve employer health and safety loss records. The program shall include a component for reducing the number of work-related, repetitive motion injuries, including, but not limited to, back injuries. The division may formulate recommendations for reducing repetitive motion injuries after conducting a survey of the workplace of the employer who accepts services of the division. The recommendations shall include, wherever appropriate, the application of generally accepted ergonomic and engineering principles to eliminate repetitive motions that are generally expected to result in injuries to workers. The recommendations shall also include, wherever appropriate, training programs to instruct workers in methods for performing job-related movements, such as lifting heavy objects, in a manner that minimizes strain and provides safeguards against injury. The division shall establish model injury and illness prevention training programs to prevent repetitive motion injuries, including recommendations for the minimum qualifications of instructors. The model programs shall be made available to employers, employer associations, workers' compensation insurers, and employee organizations on request. (b) A program for providing assistance in the development of injury prevention programs for employees and employers. The highest priority for the division's consulting services shall be given to development of these programs for businesses with fewer than 250 employees in industries identified in the regional plans developed pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 6314.1. (c) A program for providing employers or employees with information, advice, and recommendations on maintaining safe employment or place of employment, and on applicable occupational safety and health standards, techniques, devices, methods, practices, or programs. 6354.5. (a) Any insurer desiring to write workers' compensation insurance shall maintain or provide occupational safety and health loss control consultation services. The insurer may employ qualified personnel to provide these services or provide the services through another entity. (b) The program of an insurer for furnishing loss control consultation services shall be adequate to meet minimum standards prescribed by this section. Required loss control consultation services shall be adequate to identify the hazards exposing the insured to, or causing the insured, significant workers' compensation losses, and to advise the insured of steps needed to mitigate the identified workers' compensation losses or exposures. The program of an insurer for furnishing loss control consultation services shall provide all of the following: (1) A workplace survey, including discussions with management and, where appropriate, nonmanagement personnel with permission of the employer. (2) A review of injury records with appropriate personnel. (3) The development of a plan to improve the employer's health and safety loss control experience, which shall include, where appropriate, modifications to the employer's injury and illness prevention program established pursuant to Section 6401.7. At the time that an insurance policy is issued and annually thereafter, and again when notified by Cal-OSHA that an insured employer has been identified as a targeted employer pursuant to Section 6314.1, the insurer shall provide each insured employer with a written description of the consultation services together with a notice that the services are available at no additional charge to the employer. These notices to the employer shall appear in at least 10-point bold type. (c) The insurer shall not charge any fee in addition to the insurance premium for safety and health loss control consultation services. (d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require insurers to provide loss control services to places of employment that do not pose significant preventable hazards to workers. (e) The director shall establish an insurance loss control services coordinator position in the Department of Industrial Relations. The coordinator shall provide information to employers about the availability of loss control consultation services and respond to employers' questions and complaints about loss control consultation services provided by their insurer. The coordinator shall notify the insurer of every complaint concerning loss control consultation services. If the employer and the insurer are unable to agree on a mutually satisfactory solution to the complaint, the coordinator shall investigate the complaint. Whenever the coordinator determines that the loss control consultation services provided by the insurer are inadequate or inappropriate, he or she shall recommend to the employer and the insurer the actions required to bring the loss control program into compliance. If the employer and the insurer are unable to agree on a mutually satisfactory solution to the complaint, the coordinator shall forward his or her recommendations to the director. The cost of providing the coordinator services shall be paid out of the Workers' Occupational Safety and Health Education Fund created by subdivision (a) of Section 6354.7. However, no more than 20 percent of that fund may be expended for this purpose each year. 6354.7. (a) The Workers' Occupational Safety and Health Education Fund is hereby created as a special account in the State Treasury. Proceeds of the fund may be expended, upon appropriation by the Legislature, by the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a worker occupational safety and health training and education program and insurance loss control services coordinator. The director shall levy and collect fees to fund these purposes from insurers subject to Section 6354.5. However, the fee assessed against any insurer shall not exceed the greater of one hundred dollars ($100) or 0.0286 percent of paid workers' compensation indemnity claims as reported for the previous calendar year to the designated rating organization for the analysis required under subdivision (b) of Section 11759.1 of the Insurance Code. All fees shall be deposited in the fund. (b) The commission shall establish and maintain a worker safety and health training and education program. The purpose of the worker occupational safety and health training and education program shall be to promote awareness of the need for prevention education programs, to develop and provide injury and illness prevention education programs for employees and their representatives, and to deliver those awareness and training programs through a network of providers throughout the state. The commission may conduct the program directly or by means of contracts or interagency agreements. (c) The commission shall establish an employer and worker advisory board for the program. The advisory board shall guide the development of curricula, teaching methods, and specific course material about occupational safety and health, and shall assist in providing links to the target audience and broadening the partnerships with worker-based organizations, labor studies programs, and others that are able to reach the target audience. (d) The program shall include the development and provision of a needed core curriculum addressing competencies for effective participation in workplace injury and illness prevention programs and on joint labor-management health and safety committees. The core curriculum shall include an overview of the requirements related to injury and illness prevention programs and hazard communication. (e) The program shall include the development and provision of additional training programs for any or all of the following categories: (1) Industries on the high hazard list. (2) Hazards that result in significant worker injuries, illnesses, or compensation costs. (3) Industries or trades where workers are experiencing numerous or significant injuries or illnesses. (4) Occupational groups with special needs, such as those who do not speak English as their first language, workers with limited literacy, young workers, and other traditionally underserved industries or groups of workers. Priority shall be given to training workers who are able to train other workers and workers who have significant health and safety responsibilities, such as those workers serving on a health and safety committee or serving as designated safety representatives. (f) The program shall operate one or more libraries and distribution systems of occupational safety and health training material, which shall include, but not be limited to, all material developed by the program pursuant to this section. (g) The advisory board shall annually prepare a written report evaluating the use and impact of programs developed. (h) The payment of administrative costs incurred by the commission in conducting the program shall be made from the Workers' Occupational Safety and Health Education Fund. 6354.7. (a) The Workers' Occupational Safety and Health Education Fund is hereby created as a special account in the State Treasury. Proceeds of the fund may be expended, upon appropriation by the Legislature, by the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a worker occupational safety and health training and education program and an insurance loss control services coordinator. The director shall levy and collect fees to fund these purposes from insurers subject to Section 6354.5. However, the fee assessed against any insurer shall not exceed the greater of one hundred dollars ($100) or 0.0286 percent of paid workers' compensation indemnity amounts for claims as reported for the previous calendar year to the designated rating organization for the analysis required under subdivisions (b) and (c) of Section 11759.1 of the Insurance Code. All fees shall be deposited in the fund. (b) The commission shall establish and maintain a worker safety and health training and education program. The purpose of the worker occupational safety and health training and education program shall be to promote awareness of the need for prevention education programs, to develop and provide injury and illness prevention education programs for employees and their representatives, and to deliver those awareness and training programs through a network of providers throughout the state. The commission may conduct the program directly or by means of contracts or interagency agreements. (c) The commission shall establish an employer and worker advisory board for the program. The advisory board shall guide the development of curricula, teaching methods, and specific course material about occupational safety and health, and shall assist in providing links to the target audience and broadening the partnerships with worker-based organizations, labor studies programs, and others that are able to reach the target audience. (d) The program shall include the development and provision of a needed core curriculum addressing competencies for effective participation in workplace injury and illness prevention programs and on joint labor-management health and safety committees. The core curriculum shall include an overview of the requirements related to injury and illness prevention programs and hazard communication. (e) The program shall include the development and provision of additional training programs for any or all of the following categories: (1) Industries on the high hazard list. (2) Hazards that result in significant worker injuries, illnesses, or compensation costs. (3) Industries or trades in which workers are experiencing numerous or significant injuries or illnesses. (4) Occupational groups with special needs, such as those who do not speak English as their first language, workers with limited literacy, young workers, and other traditionally underserved industries or groups of workers. Priority shall be given to training workers who are able to train other workers and workers who have significant health and safety responsibilities, such as those workers serving on a health and safety committee or serving as designated safety representatives. (f) The program shall operate one or more libraries and distribution systems of occupational safety and health training material, which shall include, but not be limited to, all material developed by the program pursuant to this section. (g) The advisory board shall annually prepare a written report evaluating the use and impact of programs developed. (h) The payment of administrative costs incurred by the commission in conducting the program shall be made from the Workers' Occupational Safety and Health Education Fund. 6355. If the employer requests or accepts consulting services offered pursuant to Section 6354, the division in providing such services at the employer's employment or place of employment shall neither institute any prosecution under Section 6423 nor issue any citations for a violation of any standard or order adopted pursuant to Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 140) of Division 1. In any instance in which the division representative providing the consulting service finds that the conditions of employment, place of employment, any work procedure, or the operation of any machine, device, apparatus, or equipment constitutes an imminent hazard or danger, within the meaning of Section 6325, to the lives, safety, or health of employees, entry therein, or the use thereof, as the case may be, shall be prohibited by the division pursuant to Section 6325. The employer shall not, however, be liable to prosecution under Section 6423, nor shall the division issue any citations or assess any civil penalties, except in any case where the employer fails to comply with the division's prohibition of entry or use, or in any case where the provisions of Section 6326 apply. 6356. (a) There is hereby created, in the General Fund, the Worker Safety Bilingual Investigative Support, Enforcement, and Training Account. The moneys in the account may be expended by the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of this part. (b) The department may receive and accept a contribution of funds from an individual or private organization, including the proceeds from a judgment in a state or federal court, if the contribution is made to carry out the purposes of this part. The department shall immediately deposit the contribution in the account established by subdivision (a). (c) The department may not receive or accept a contribution of funds under this section made from the proceeds of a judgment in a criminal action filed pursuant to Section 6423 or 6425 of the Labor Code. 6357. On or before January 1, 1995, the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board shall adopt standards for ergonomics in the workplace designed to minimize the instances of injury from repetitive motion. 6359. (a) The Legislature finds and declares the following: (1) Every year 70 adolescents die from work injuries in the United States and 200,000 are injured, 70,000 seriously enough to require hospital treatment. Most of these injuries are preventable. (2) A recent report by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council has brought national attention to the need for better education and interventions to aid injury and illness prevention efforts aimed at young workers. (3) Since 1996, the California Study Group on Young Workers' Health and Safety, consisting of 30 representatives from key agencies and organizations involved with California youth employment and education issues, including representatives from government agencies, business, labor, parent and teacher organizations, and others, has met to develop recommendations to better protect and educate California's young workers. (4) The study group recommended the establishment of a Resource Network on Young Workers' Health and Safety, to assist in increasing the ability of young workers and their communities to identify and address workplace hazards in order to prevent young workers from becoming injured or ill on the job. (b) It is the intent of the Legislature that the Department of Industrial Relations, the University of California, the State Department of Education, the State Department of Health Services, and the Employment Development Department cooperatively and individually conduct activities aimed at the prevention of occupational injuries and illnesses among young workers. (c) The Department of Industrial Relations shall contract with a coordinator to establish a statewide young worker health and safety resource network. The primary function of the resource network shall be to assist in increasing the ability of young workers and their communities statewide to identify and address workplace hazards in order to prevent young workers from becoming injured or ill on the job. The network shall coordinate and augment existing outreach and education efforts and provide technical assistance, education materials and other support to schools, job training programs, employers and other organizations working to educate students and their communities about workplace health and safety and child labor laws. (d) The resource network shall provide, and the lead center shall coordinate, services to all key groups throughout the state involved in education and protecting young workers, including, but not limited to: (1) Teachers. (2) Schools. (3) Job training programs. (4) Employers of youth. (5) Parent groups. (6) Youth organizations. (7) Work permit issuers. (e) The resource network shall be advised by a statewide advisory group, including, but not limited to, representatives from the Department of Industrial Relations, the Commission on Health and Safety and Worker's Compensation, the University of California, the State Department of Education, the Department of Health Services, and the Employment Development Department, as well as business, labor, parents, and others experienced in working with youth doing agricultural and nonagricultural work. The advisory group shall represent diverse geographic regions of the state. (f) This section shall be implemented subject to the availability of funding for the purposes of this section in the 2000-01 Budget Act.