Cal/OSHA Standards Board Makes Emergency Heat Illness Regulation Permanent.

ONTARIO, Calif. -- On April 20, 2006, California's occupational safety and health officials at Cal/OSHA will make permanent the emergency heat-safety workplace standards, according to Tom Wheeler of Self Insured Solutions, representing four California self-insured workers comp groups. These regulations, intended to protect workers from heat illness, were implemented as a temporary emergency measure in the late summer of 2005, after several on-the-job heat-related fatalities.

"Responding to an unprecedented wave of deaths during a prolonged heat wave, Cal-OSHA decided to act, voting unanimously for an emergency regulation designed to protect outdoor workers, including agricultural and construction-industry workers," Wheeler explained. "Prior to the implementation of these emergency regulations, our organization -- including five agricultural and construction industry self-insured groups impacted by these regulations -- has been advising our covered members to take common-sense precautions to protect the health of their workers during the heat of the day, and we support all prudent actions to protect the lives and health of all of California's agricultural workers," Wheeler said.

"At Self Insured Solutions, worker safety is our business," Wheeler pointed out. "We have long advocated for heat-relief stations at worksites. These do not need to be complicated or expensive to be effective -- a beach or patio-style umbrella, a folding lawn chair and a container of cool water are sufficient to permit workers to take heat-related breaks from work before high temperatures begin to take a toll on their health. In addition, we provide our covered member companies with on-site safety training -- taught in both English and Spanish -- that include heat safety provisions."

While these temporary regulations were in effect, a Cal/OSHA advisory committee worked on a permanent standard for the state, to provide ongoing protection to workers during peak temperature periods. These permanent standards will be formally announced on April 20 by Cal/OSHA.

The new permanent heat-safety regulation covers four critical areas to protect workers:

--Access to adequate supplies of cool water

--Shade for workers who are on the verge of becoming ill or already have started to feel the effects of heat illness

--Training on critical elements of heat illness prevention

--A requirement for the Standards Board to review the feasibility of requiring shade for all rest periods

Self Insured Solutions has developed worker-focused handouts designed to meet the new training requirements -- these are available to member firms in Self Insured Solutions' four agricultural industry self-insured groups, as well as CCN-SIG, the state's construction industry self-insured group. These training tools are bilingual, printed in English and in Spanish. "We distributed samples of these cards to our member companies while the emergency regulations were in force in late 2005," Wheeler noted. "We will distribute these again prior to the heat-season, and we are encouraging our member employers to obtain enough of these training cards to provide to all of their workers."

With offices in Ontario, Self Insured Solutions (http://www.calsig.com/) is one of California's most successful developers and administrators of private self-insured workers' compensation groups (SIGs).

Through Self Insured Solutions, Loss Prevention Specialists offers hands-on safety services to members of California Agricultural Network (website), California Farm Management (website), California AG Processing (website) and California Livestock Producers (website), as well as California Contractors Network, a self-insured group serving the building and construction industry. Each of these self insured workers' comp groups is managed by Self Insured Solutions, and -- with the exception of CANSIG, which serves the construction industry -- each exclusively serves one segment of California's multi-billion dollar agricultural industry.

For more information on these emergency regulations, or on the California Agricultural Network Self-Insured Group -- or to interview Tom Wheeler -- please contact Ned Barnett, 702-696-1200 or [e-mail].