Labor Code, 1937

Employers and employees must comply with occupational safety and health standards and related rules that apply to their conduct.

All employers must provide employees specified safety-and-health information and access, including postings, citation notices, monitoring observation opportunities, exposure-record access, and notice of hazardous exposure and corrective action.

Physicians treating an injured employee must file a complete occupational injury or illness report, usually within 5 days, and pesticide-poisoning cases also require a local health officer report within 24 hours.

Employers must report qualifying workplace injuries and illnesses, and certain death-related updates, to the Department of Industrial Relations or insurer within set deadlines; serious injuries, illnesses, or deaths must also be reported immediately to the Division of Occupational Safety and Health.

If a fire or police agency is called to a covered accident involving serious injury, illness, or death, it must immediately notify the nearest Division of Occupational Safety and Health office by telephone, and the Division must then immediately notify the appropriate prosecuting authority.

Treatment for pesticide poisoning, or suspected pesticide poisoning, cannot be treated as first aid treatment.

This section requires notice between agencies about garment manufacturing workplaces with fire or safety hazards, and it requires Labor Standards Enforcement to act when an employer is unregistered.

Employers must keep records and make required reports, and state and local government employers must do so in the same way as other employers. The Department of Industrial Relations may set report form, detail, and timing rules, and the Division of Occupational Safety and Health may provide forms and enforce recordkeeping violations.

The Legislature states that the division should maintain strong workplace injury and illness reporting standards.

The division must monitor OSHA’s workplace injury and illness reporting rule and, if OSHA weakens that reporting requirement, convene an advisory committee within 120 days.

Reports required by certain safety-and-health provisions must prominently state the statement set out in Section 5401.7.

Employers or insurers who receive Department of Industrial Relations forms must fill them out completely and correctly, and explain any unanswered questions with a good and sufficient reason.

Some injury or illness reports are confidential and cannot be publicly inspected, made public, or used as evidence in certain Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board proceedings.

The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and attending physicians or surgeons must report qualifying prisoner injuries to the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, with a separate prompt report if the injury causes death.

The safety division may recommend improvements to the corrections department, and in some cases may hold hearings and issue orders, rules, or regulations. The corrections department must follow those adopted orders, rules, or regulations, but it does not have to comply with the recommendations.

An employer or physician who fails to comply with certain reporting-related provisions may be assessed a civil penalty of $50 to $200 if the director or designee finds a pattern or practice of violations, or a willful violation.

This section makes certain employers, officers, managers, and supervisors guilty of a misdemeanor for specified safety-law violations and sets fines and jail terms.

This section makes certain employers and employees criminally liable if they willfully violate workplace safety rules and the violation causes death or permanent/prolonged impairment, with jail, prison, and fine penalties.

A person who knowingly makes a false statement or certification in covered occupational safety and health documents can be fined, imprisoned, or both.

An employer who violates a qualifying occupational safety or health rule may face a civil penalty of up to $12,471 per violation if the violation is not serious.

An employer that seriously violates certain workplace safety rules can be fined up to $25,000 per violation.

An employer’s injury prevention program is treated as operative for Sections 6427 and 6428 if it meets substantial-compliance criteria set by the standards board under Section 6401.7.

Employers that willfully or repeatedly violate specified workplace safety rules may face civil penalties, and the division must keep investigation, inspection, and citation records for at least seven years.

Employers can face daily civil penalties for not correcting certain safety violations on time, and more serious criminal penalties if they falsely claim compliance and still do not abate the violation.

Employers can be fined up to $12,471 per violation for certain posting, recordkeeping, and notice-posting failures.

This section sets how a workplace violation may be treated as serious, what the division must consider before citing it, and how an employer may rebut that presumption.

Civil penalties in Sections 6427 to 6431 are not treated as “other penalties specifically provided” under Section 6423.

Certain education-related public entities must have covered civil or administrative penalties deposited into the Workplace Health and Safety Revolving Fund, and they may seek a refund if specified abatement and citation conditions are met.

Certain public police and fire departments, and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, may apply for a refund of assessed penalties if specified conditions are met.

An employer that violates Chapter 6 safety requirements must be assessed a civil penalty.

Certain public prosecutors may bring a criminal complaint for a violation of Section 6505.5, and any court penalty is paid to the prosecutor’s office, with a sharing rule if another unit referred the case.

An employer may ask the division for a temporary variance from an occupational safety or health standard, but the order is only granted if specific showings are made and employees are given notice and a hearing opportunity.

An employer applying for a temporary order under Section 6450 must include specified information and certify that employees were informed.

The division may grant a temporary variance from a standard when needed to let an employer join a director-approved experiment.

The division may adopt rules and regulations needed to carry out this chapter and to govern granting or denying temporary variances.

An employer or other person harmed by a temporary variance decision may appeal to the standards board within 15 working days after receiving notice.

A standards board decision on a variance appeal binds the director and the division for the parties in that appeal. The director may seek judicial review of the decision even if the director did not appear or participate before the standards board.

The standards board must hear and decide appeals about temporary variance decisions, and its decisions must be written and final except for rehearing or judicial review.

Some high-risk work requires a permit before work starts, and certain employers must hold an annual permit for large stage/set construction or demolition.

Employers subject to Section 6500 must apply to the division for a permit, and the application must include required safety-compliance information.

Employers or contractors doing asbestos-related work over 100 square feet must register with the division, and they must follow registration, notice, posting, training, certification, and site-notification requirements.

This section defines “asbestos” as fibrous forms of certain hydrated minerals.

This section defines “asbestos-related work” and “asbestos containing construction material,” and creates a limited exclusion for certain asbestos cement pipe work outside buildings if exposure stays below the action level and training/certification requirements are met.

Before asbestos-related work begins, the owner, employer, or contractor must try in good faith to determine whether asbestos is present, and the contractor or employer must first ask the owner for buildings built before 1978.

The division may issue permits for work if the employer shows the work conditions will be safe and healthful.

A safety conference must include specified representatives and a discussion of the employer’s safety program and planned safety methods and conditions.

A safety conference must be held before any asbestos handling job begins actual work.

An employer who gets a permit under this chapter must post a copy of the permit.

The division may revoke a permit issued under this chapter if good cause is shown and notice plus an opportunity to be heard are provided.

The division may suspend or revoke asbestos-work registrations after notice and hearing if good cause is shown. People involved in asbestos-related work on commercial or industrial buildings built before 1978 can face fines or jail if they start work without first determining whether asbestos is present.

An employer denied a permit, or whose permit is revoked, may appeal to the director. Filing the appeal does not stay the revocation unless the director later orders a stay.

The division must set permit and registration fees at amounts reasonably necessary to cover program costs.

These listed public entities and regulated utilities do not need a permit under this section.

No entity is exempt from registration, and specified public bodies must apply for registration through their designated chief executive officer.

A person, agent, or officer who violates this chapter commits a misdemeanor.

An asbestos consultant may not require extra corrective work as a condition of doing an inspection in the covered situations.

If the division finds an employer operating without a required permit, it may seek an injunction, and the court may immediately issue a temporary restraining order.

The department’s Section 65 services must be conducted by an internal unit called the California State Mediation and Conciliation Service.

Certain employers and related obligated persons may appeal to the appeals board within 15 working days after receiving a citation, notice, or proposed penalty.

Certain employers and related obligated persons may appeal a special order or action order to the appeals board within 15 working days after receiving it.

If the employer does not contest a citation or proposed penalty within 15 working days, and no employee contest is filed on the abatement period, the citation or proposed penalty becomes a final order not reviewable by a court or agency. The appeals board may extend the 15-day period for good cause.

An employer must tell the appeals board within 15 working days if it intends to contest a special order or action order; otherwise, the order becomes final. The appeals board may extend that 15-day period for good cause.

The appeals board must hold a hearing and then issue a decision when an employer contests certain enforcement actions, or when an employee or representative timely challenges the abatement period as unreasonable.

The appeals board’s procedure rules must match certain Government Code provisions and allow affected employees or their representatives to participate in hearings. Superior courts have jurisdiction over contempt proceedings as provided in the cited Government Code article.

The appeals board may direct a hearing officer to hear issues and gather facts, and it must adopt rules of practice and procedure.

The appeals board may appoint hearing officers and may shift appeal proceedings to them or back to itself.

A party may object to assigning the proceeding to a particular hearing officer, and the appeals board must hear and decide that objection.

A hearing officer must be sworn before starting duties, and may administer oaths, affirmations, and certify official acts in proceedings under this chapter.

The appeals board or a hearing officer must file findings and an order or decision within 30 days after the case is submitted, and must serve the parties with a summary of the evidence and the reasons for the decision.

The appeals board may, within 30 days after the filing of the findings, decision, or order, confirm, adopt, modify, or set aside a hearing officer’s decision.

Notices, orders, and decisions under this part must generally be served as provided by the Code of Civil Procedure, unless the appeals board directs otherwise.

If the employer does not appear, the appeals board may dismiss the appeal or decide it based on the employer’s admissions or other evidence, and the appeal may be reinstated if the employer shows good cause for not appearing.

Informalities in a proceeding or in taking testimony do not invalidate an order, decision, or finding filed as required by this division.

In proceedings before the appeals board, the appeals board, a hearing officer, or any party may take witness depositions and require witness attendance and records production. Depositions may also be taken outside the state, and evidence may be taken in other jurisdictions before the local agency handling similar matters.

A party aggrieved by a final order or decision may ask the appeals board to reconsider it within 30 days after service; the appeals board may also reconsider a hearing officer’s order on its own within 30 days after filing.

A person cannot bring a court cause of action based on a final appeals board or hearing officer order until the stated reconsideration steps are resolved.

A petition for reconsideration must state the grounds in full detail, identify every issue for the appeals board, be verified under oath, and include a general statement of supporting evidence or other matters.

A petition for reconsideration may rely only on the listed grounds.

A petitioner for reconsideration loses the ability to raise objections, irregularities, or illegalities about the reconsidered matter except those stated in the petition.

A person asking for reconsideration must promptly serve a copy of the petition on all parties; any party may file a verified answer within 30 days; and the appeals board may require service on additional persons it designates.

The appeals board may reconsider its own or a hearing officer’s order or decision and may affirm, rescind, alter, amend, or take additional evidence. If there is a reconsideration hearing, notice of its time and place must be given to the petitioner, adverse parties, and anyone else the board orders.

When reconsideration is granted, the appeals board may decide the case on the record and may affirm, rescind, alter, or amend the prior order or decision if it sees no need for more testimony.

After additional evidence and review of all facts, the appeals board may affirm, rescind, alter, or amend the original order or decision.

The appeals board must make these reconsideration decisions itself, in writing, signed by a majority of assigned members, and it must state the evidence and detailed reasons.

A petition for reconsideration is denied if the appeals board does not act on it within 45 days after filing. The appeals board may extend its time to act by up to 15 days for good cause.

A petition for reconsideration usually pauses the affected order for 10 days, but serious safety citations stay in force unless the employer proves a stay will not harm employee health and safety.

The appeals board may reconsider an original order or decision, either on petition of an aggrieved party or on its own motion, within the same time allowed for reconsideration.

A person affected by an appeals board order or decision may seek a writ of mandate in superior court, but the application must be filed within the section’s time limit.

A writ of mandate must be returnable at a court-specified time and place, and the appeals board must certify the record to the court within the specified time.

The court’s review is limited to specific review questions and cannot become a new trial or independent evidence review.

The appeals board’s factual findings are final and not reviewable. In mandate proceedings, the appeals board and each party may appear, and the court must enter judgment affirming or annulling the order or decision, or may send the case back to the appeals board.

Court proceedings under this part follow applicable writ-of-mandate procedures, and copies of filed pleadings must be served on the appeals board and adverse parties who appeared before it.

Most California state courts are barred from reviewing or interfering with appeals board orders, rules, or decisions, except as specifically allowed for the Supreme Court, courts of appeal, and limited superior court review.

Filing or pending a writ of mandate does not automatically stay an appeals board order, but the court may stay or suspend it in whole or in part.

This section lets the department file unpaid civil penalty paperwork in superior court, requires the clerk to enter judgment, and bars court fees for required official services.

A civil penalty, fee, or penalty fee under this division must be collected by an action started within three years after it becomes final.

The division must send the Contractors’ State License Board a certified copy of certain final civil-penalty notices, and must send the employer a written confirmation or receipt after the penalty is paid.

The director may collect reimbursement for certain mediation-related services, and must adopt regulations to implement this section.

An employer is conclusively presumed to be maintaining an unsafe place of employment if it allows certain flammable or combustible materials for gas houseline or piping pressure tests, or if gas pipelines are tested with gas above the applicable ASME code pressure limits.

The standards board must set maximum allowable emissions standards for contaminants from portable and mobile internal combustion engines used in enclosed workplace structures.

Certain portable and mobile internal combustion engines used in enclosed workplaces must be equipped with a certified exhaust purifier device once the device has been certified by the State Air Resources Board.

Sections 6701 and 6702 apply to portable and mobile internal combustion engines used inside enclosed work sites, unless their operation does not create harmful exposure above acceptable gas or fume levels set by the standards board.

Cranes of this type and size sold or operated in the state must have boomstops that meet standards set by the standards board.

Public works contracts over $25,000 for trench excavation five feet or deeper must include a clause requiring a detailed worker-protection plan before excavation.

Department excavation-safety regulations apply to swimming pool excavations only when a qualified person finds recognizable conditions creating injury risk from moving ground, and employees may not enter until the condition is fixed or no longer exists.

For certain trench or excavation projects, only one permit is required, and Section 6500 does not apply in listed emergency and other limited situations.

When a state or local government issues certain construction bids for deeper excavations, the bid must include adequate sheeting, shoring, bracing, or an equivalent safety method.

Contractors on construction projects must maintain adequate emergency first aid treatment for their employees.

Certain construction employers in highly endemic Valley Fever counties must give Valley Fever awareness training to all employees on the stated schedule.

Where explosives are used at a workplace, a licensed person must supervise and visually direct the blasting operation. The section also defines “explosives” and excludes certain items, and it does not apply to some Health and Safety Code licensees.

The division must create and administer an oral and written exam for certain explosives users in snow avalanche blasting, and those persons must pass it before being licensed.

The standards board must adopt a field sanitation safety standard, and the division must enforce and coordinate implementation of it.

This section defines “lead-related construction work” for this division.

The division must propose a lead-related construction safety standard to the standards board by February 1, 1994, and the standards board must adopt it by December 31, 1994.

Construction work on the Golden Gate Bridge retrofit project, when covered by contracts awarded in 2025, must follow specified lead and general industry safety orders as they existed on December 31, 2024.

The division must submit a rulemaking proposal to revise lead standards, and the board must vote on the proposed changes by September 30, 2020.

A state agency’s test procedures for certain vapor-emission compliance checks may not require anyone to climb onto a cargo tank during loading.

The section reaffirms concern about repetitive motion injuries in the workplace and the Standards Board’s continuing duty to carry out Section 6357.

The division must propose an indoor heat-safety standard to the standards board by January 1, 2019.

This section names a heat illness standard, requires the division and standards board to take rulemaking steps by set deadlines, and directs consideration of updated employer heat-illness and wildfire-smoke protections.

The standards board must draft and then consider adopting rule changes that would require at least one single-user toilet on construction jobsites for employees who self-identify as female or nonbinary.

The division must propose rule changes to require naloxone or another FDA-approved opioid antagonist in workplace first aid kits, and the standards board must consider revised standards. The section also gives civil-damages protection to certain people who administer naloxone in an overdose emergency, with a narrow exception for paid first responders.

The division must share COVID-19 infection-prevention information for agricultural employees, make it easy to understand and accessible, run outreach, and publish investigation-related information online until the state of emergency ends.

The division has jurisdiction over safety and health matters for certain railroad and public utility employees.

The division’s jurisdiction must not reduce or interfere with the Public Utilities Commission’s jurisdiction, except for matters that affect only employee safety.

The Public Utilities Commission may change or отменить a division order under this chapter if it thinks the order unduly and prejudicially interferes with a utility, the public, or a consumer or patron.

The Public Utilities Commission must enforce the provisions of this chapter, despite Section 6800.

This section says the Act is called the Railroad Anti-Featherbedding Law of 1964.

California states that railroad train-manning rules should align with the federal arbitration award and related federal legislation or agreements.

Certain railroad common carriers may not run passenger, mail, or express trains unless the required crew members are employed, subject to stated exceptions.

Local agencies and their contractors must staff revenue service trains with minimum qualified employees, and procurement or contracts for that service must require compliance.

Freight trains and light engines may not be operated unless they have at least two crew members.

Locomotives without cars are exempt from this chapter, but a locomotive moved in a train under steam must have one engineer and one fireman unless the engine is disabled.

This chapter does not apply to relief or wrecking trains when enough employees are not available to comply with the chapter.

A common carrier may not employ an unqualified person as a locomotive engineer, conductor, or brakeman on railroads covered by this section.

This chapter does not apply to certain railroad-related work involving locomotives or motor power cars at terminals, engine houses, or shops.

Violating this chapter is a misdemeanor.

This chapter does not apply to train operations by a common carrier during strikes or walkouts involving employees covered by the chapter.

This chapter does not apply to certain gasoline motor cars on branch lines or to electric trains with fewer than three cars.

If a railroad train has a Vanderbilt-type tender and the cab-to-tender clearance is under 28 inches, an opening at least 24 inches square must be cut in the cab roof overhang.

A railroad company or railroad receiver that fails to comply with section 6950 commits a misdemeanor and is fined at least $100 for each offense.

Railroad companies operating engines in the state must equip engine cabs with handrails, and most cabs must also have a footboard unless the cab has specified front-window dimensions. A company that does not comply commits a misdemeanor and can be fined $200 per offense.

Certain electric cars and locomotives used in interurban service must use laminated safety glass in the motorman’s or engineer’s compartment, or in the front window if there is no compartment, when the listed conditions are met.

After September 1, 1946, operating an electric car in interurban service or an electric locomotive without laminated safety glass is unlawful.

This section defines laminated safety glass as glass treated or combined with other materials to reduce injury risk compared with ordinary sheet or plate glass.

A common carrier that violates Sections 6953 or 6954 commits a misdemeanor and must pay a fine of at least $200 for each offense.

A deputy or other person authorized by law may exercise an administrative power or perform a duty that this code gives to, or imposes on, a public officer.

The Industrial Welfare Commission has five members, and those members are appointed by the Governor with the Senate’s consent.

The Industrial Welfare Commission must be made up of specified labor, employer, and public representatives, and its membership must include both sexes.

This section defines “caboose” and allows a conductor to place a pusher engine ahead of the caboose when safety warrants it.

Members of the Industrial Welfare Commission serve four-year terms and remain in office until successors are appointed and qualified.

This article defines “building” for this section as a multifloor building over two stories high that is under construction, excluding structural steel framed buildings.

Buildings must have the joists, beams, or girders below the work area covered with close-laid flooring or other suitable material.

Reinforced concrete buildings with reinforced concrete floors must have each floor filled in with forms or concrete before work starts on the walls of the second floor above or on the next floor above.

Buildings with wooden floors, except steel frame buildings, must install underflooring or plank over each floor within the time set for reinforced concrete floors.

For floor spans over 13 feet, an intermediate beam must support temporary flooring; spans up to 16 feet may instead use three-inch planks without a beam.

If building work is suspended and the temporary flooring is removed, the building must be replanked when work resumes so workers have a covered floor within two stories below them.

If a building is being built in sections, each section is treated as a building for this article.

Planked floors on buildings must be tightly laid and made with proper thickness, grade, and span to carry the working load.

Safety belts and nets are required under the referenced construction safety rules.

A person must not start or allow work to continue unless the planking or nets required by this article are in place.

The Division of Occupational Safety and Health must enforce this article.

This article defines “scaffolding” to include scaffolding and staging.

Suspended scaffolding over 10 feet high must have a strong safety rail, comply with applicable safety orders, be fastened to prevent swaying, and be built strong enough to hold expected loads.

Employers using certain scaffolding on building work must provide specified safety lines, and the standards board may set different standards or grant variances if safety is equivalent or better.

Scaffolding platforms or floors must be at least 14 inches wide and free from knots or fractures that would weaken them.

Lean-to (jack) scaffolds may not be used as support for scaffolds.

Breaking section 7151, 7152, 7153, or 7154 is a misdemeanor.

A person who hires or directs work on construction, repair, painting, or cleaning of a house, building, or structure must not provide unsafe equipment, obstruct safety inspections, or tamper with or keep using equipment after it has been declared unsafe; doing so is a misdemeanor.

The division may make and enforce safety orders under law to support this article’s purposes and provisions.

The division must enforce this article’s provisions.

Members of the commission are entitled to $100 for each day they actually attend commission meetings or other official business, plus their actual and necessary expenses.

This section defines “construction elevator” and “building” for this article.

Construction elevators used in buildings must have a signal system.

The person in charge of a building must appoint signal persons for a construction elevator, choose them from workers most familiar with the work, and protect the signaling devices from unauthorized or accidental operation.