Over the past two years, we have seen several new safety, employment and environmental rules coming out of California.  Most recently the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health’s (Cal/OSHA) issued its comprehensive indoor heat illness standard that affects California employers, including all metalcasters, as well as the first general industry workplace violence prevention safety requirements in the U.S. Both became effective in July. California became the third state with an indoor heat regulation, joining Minnesota and Oregon. Federal OSHA has yet to finalize its heat illness rule and hasn’t developed workplace violence prevention standards. AFS submitted comments on these California rulemakings and provided updates to the membership. 

Federal OSHA unveiled its proposed heat illness prevention rule in July for indoor and outdoor workplaces, which would require employers to monitor excessive heat in the workplace and develop and implement plans to address it. AFS is in the process of developing comments on OSHA’s proposed heat stress rulemaking.  

Typically, Washington, Oregon, New York, Vermont, Minnesota, and other states implement similar new rules enacted by California. AFS continues to closely monitor state activity on workplace and environmental matters and will weigh in as needed. Highlighted below are updates on two additional rules that AFS continues to closely monitor in California and weigh-in on with other business groups:

1) Cal/OSHA Issues Draft Rules for Workplace Violence Prevention for General Industry
Cal/OSHA recently released a revised discussion draft of a proposed workplace violence prevention standard for general industry, which will impact all California metalcasters. The state has already implemented a new workplace violence law (SB 553) requiring employers to develop and implement written Workplace Violence Prevention Plans as part of their Injury and Illness Prevention Plans and provide training by July 1, 2024. 

As part of SB 553, Cal/OSHA is required to develop a formal Workplace Violence Prevention regulation. In its initial draft regulation, Cal/OSHA proposes, among other things, that employers implement a series of stringent engineering controls and administrative controls. The draft regulation outlines engineering controls such as, but not limited to: electronic or mechanical access controls to employee-occupied areas; weapon detectors (installed or handheld); spaces configured to optimize employee access to exits, escape routes, and alarms; locks on doors; improving lighting in dark areas, sight-aids, improving visibility, and removing sight barriers; video monitoring and recording; and personal and workplace alarms.

Work practice controls would include: provisions of dedicated security personnel; an effective means to alert employees of the presence, location, and nature of a security threat; control of visitor entry; methods and procedures to prevent unauthorized firearms and weapons in the workplace; employee training on workplace violence prevention methods; and employee training on procedures to follow in the event of a workplace violence incident or emergency.

What’s next? An advisory committee hearing is scheduled for later this year. Cal/OSHA has been ordered to develop a Workplace Violence Prevention regulation and present it to the board before December 31, 2025, with a final regulation being adopted by December 31, 2026. AFS will continue to be actively involved on this proposed standard and update the membership.

2) California Seeks EPA Approval for Diesel Truck Ban at Hearing

California’s ban on diesel trucks, adopted in 2023, is the first in the world to require a switch to zero-emission big rigs, garbage trucks, delivery trucks, and other medium and heavy-duty vehicles to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gases. The rule would transform the commercial trucks operating on California’s roads, affecting around 1.8 million vehicles, including those used by the U.S. Postal Service, FedEx, and Amazon. 
Under the law, the sale of new fossil-fueled medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks will be prohibited in the state starting in 2036. Large trucking companies must convert their fleets to electric or hydrogen models by 2042. Foundries produce critical castings for the truck market and would be impacted by this ban. 

California has had the authority under the Clean Air Act to set its own emission standards for trucks, cars, powered industrial trucks, and other vehicles for more than 50 years. However, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must grant California a waiver before the diesel truck measure can be implemented. 

At an EPA hearing on August 14 this year, more than 250 stakeholders––including trucking companies, agricultural groups, and others––told the EPA that the new rules would harm the economy, the zero-emission big rigs are cost prohibitive and twice the price of a diesel version, and the state lacks the infrastructure for an electric charging network to meet the demands of electric trucks. Conversely, California’s top air quality regulator, clean energy companies, environmental and community groups urged the agency to “immediately” approve the state’s regulation phasing out diesel trucks. 

The waiver request is one of several that California regulators are hoping the EPA will act on before the November election, including one for forklifts powered by propane, gasoline, and natural gas. EPA declined to say when a decision would be made on the waiver. In 2020, California passed its first rule ramping up sales of zero-emission trucks and buses and three years later, the EPA, under the Biden administration, granted California its waiver to enforce the measure. AFS will continue to update the membership on these waivers.