BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Senator Ed Hernandez, O.D., Chair
BILL NO: SB 1100
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|AUTHOR: |Monning |
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|VERSION: |April 11, 2016 |
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|HEARING DATE: |April 20, 2016 | | |
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|CONSULTANT: |Vince Marchand |
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SUBJECT : Worker occupational safety and health training and
education program
SUMMARY : Expands the duties of the worker occupational safety and
health training and education program to include collaboration
with the Occupational Health Branch of the Department of Public
Health, as well as with the University of California
occupational health centers, in order to increase coordination
between occupational health centers and clinics, and to provide
training with the goal of preventing occupational injuries
suffered by the most vulnerable workers.
Existing law:
1)Establishes the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers'
Compensation (CHSWC), composed of eight voting members, as
specified. Requires the Commission to establish a worker
occupational safety and health training and education program
(WOSHTEP). Levies fees on workers' compensation insurers to
fund this purpose, not to exceed $100 or 0.0286% of paid
workers' compensation indemnity amounts for claims for the
previous calendar year.
2)Requires CHSWC to establish an advisory board for WOSHTEP to
guide the development of curricula, teaching methods, and
specific course material about occupational safety and health.
3)Requires WOSHTEP to include the development and provision of a
core curriculum addressing competencies for effective
participation in workplace injury and illness prevention
programs, and to develop additional training programs as
specified.
4)Requires WOSHTEP to operate one or more libraries and
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distribution systems of occupational safety and health
training material, and to annually prepare a written report
evaluating the use and impact of programs developed.
5)Requires the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) to
develop a long range program for expanding the resources of
the State of California in the area of occupational health and
medicine, and requires this program to include a contractual
agreement with the University of California for the creation
of occupational health centers affiliated with regional
schools of medicine serving the northern and southern parts of
the state. Requires the primary function of these occupational
health centers to be the training of occupational physicians
and nurses, toxicologists, epidemiologists, and industrial
hygienists, and to serve as referral centers for occupational
illnesses.
6)Requires the Department of Public Health (DPH) to maintain a
program on occupational health and occupational disease
prevention, including investigations into the causes of
morbidity and mortality from work-induced diseases,
development of recommendations for improved control of
work-induced diseases, maintenance of a thorough knowledge of
the effects of industrial chemicals and work practices on the
health of California workers, the provision of technical
assistance in matters of occupational health to DIR and other
governmental and nongovernmental agencies, organizations and
private individuals.
This bill:
1)Enacts the "Dr. Julia Quint Program for Research and
Prevention of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses," and states
that the intent is to establish a California occupational
research agenda, increase coordination between community
occupational health clinics and the centers for occupational
and environmental health, and provide training with the goals
of preventing occupational injuries suffered by the most
vulnerable workers, including non-English speakers working in
high-risk occupations, and reducing the consequences and costs
of those injuries through early intervention with appropriate
care.
2)Expands the stated purpose of WOSHTEP, which is established by
existing law, to include increasing the number of, and
continued capacity of, nonprofit provider organizations,
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including labor-management cooperation committees, joint
labor-management apprentice programs, labor unions, community
or faith-based organizations that focus on vulnerable workers,
and state government-supported postsecondary education
institutions.
3)Requires WOSHTEP, in addition to its current duties and
functions, to work in collaboration with the Occupational
Health Branch of DPH to develop and implement a California
occupational research agenda focused on the prevention of
occupational injuries and illnesses that are most prevalent,
serious, and costly for California employers and employees.
4)Requires WOSHTEP, in addition to its current duties and
functions, to work in collaboration with the University of
California occupational health centers affiliated with
regional schools of medicine to increase coordination and
collaboration, including providing training to community-based
health clinics that serve vulnerable workers, including
non-English Speakers, working in high-risk occupations.
5)Requires the WOSHTEP advisory board, which is established by
existing law, to include employer and worker representatives
and experts in occupational safety and health.
FISCAL
EFFECT : This bill has not been analyzed by a fiscal committee.
COMMENTS :
1)Author's statement. According to the author, while authoring
SB 193 (Chapter 830, Statutes of 2014), it was revealed how
employees who were exposed to the chemical Diacytil and
seeking treatment for the adverse effects to their lungs at
the community clinics paid a tremendous price with their
health because the physicians were not asking questions about
their workplaces to make a connection to the chemical. By
increasing outreach and training to the community clinics,
both workers and employers can be better protected from the
devastating workers' compensation outcomes. By increasing the
scope of reach of WOSHTEP beyond education to include research
and training for the community clinics, it will provide a
comprehensive outreach program to better protect workers and
workplaces.
2)Data on workplace injuries in California. According to DIR, in
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2014 (the most recent data available), there were a total of
460,000 reportable injury and illness cases, of which 265,000
cases involved lost work-time. This represented the lowest
incidence of nonfatal occupational injuries in 13 years.
However, DIR noted in its report on the 2014 data that Latino
workers continue to experience the highest incidence of
occupational injuries, comprising 59% of all reported days
away from work cases. In construction, manufacturing, mining
and natural resources, three out of four workers injured on
the job are Latino. Additionally, in private industry, new
hires and young workers have higher rates of injury, where one
out of four injured workers had been on the job for less than
a year. Teenagers from 16 to 19 years of age suffered the
highest incidence of days away from work due to injury
compared to all other age groups.
3)Background on WOSHTEP. CHSWC is a joint labor-management body
that was created by the workers' compensation reform
legislation of 1993, charged with examining the health and
safety and workers' compensation systems in California and of
the state's activities to prevent industrial injuries and
occupational illnesses. In 2002, additional workers'
compensation reform legislation established WOSHTEP, to be
administered by CHSWC, to sponsor workplace health and safety
training programs. WOSHTEP is operated through interagency
agreements with the Labor Occupational Health Program at the
University of California at Berkeley, serving Northern
California, the Western Center for Agricultural Health and
Safety at the University of California at Davis, serving
California's Central Valley, and the Labor Occupational Safety
and Health Program at the University of California, Los
Angeles, serving Southern California. According to CHSWC,
WOSHTEP places special emphasis on reaching employers and
workers in industries with significant injuries, illnesses and
workers' compensation cost, and that focus is also on 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.
4)Occupational Health Branch of DPH. The Occupational Health
Branch is a non-regulatory program in DPH devoted to improving
worker health and safety through prevention activities.
Specifically, the Occupational Health Branch operates the
following programs: the Hazard Evaluation System and
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Information Service (HESIS), which evaluates hazards to
provide information and technical assistance on new or
unappreciated hazards; the Occupational Health Surveillance
and Evaluation Program, which conducts research on
work-related illness, injury and death in California to
understand the causes and identify preventive measures; the
Occupational Lead Poisoning Prevention Program; which provides
information and assistance to identify lead hazards and
prevent work-related lead poisoning; and, the California Safe
Cosmetics Program, to collect and provide information on
hazardous ingredients in cosmetic products sold in California.
5)Who is Dr. Julia Quint? This bill is entitled the "Dr. Julia
Quint Program for Research and Prevention of Occupational
Injuries and Illnesses." Dr. Quint was a public health
scientist and toxicologist from the San Francisco Bay area who
died in 2015. Dr. Quint devoted her career to protecting
workers, communities and the environment, with an emphasis on
occupational health. She retired from DPH as Chief of the
Hazard Evaluation System and Information Service. Prior to
joining DPH in 1981, she worked as a research scientist at UC
San Francisco and the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. She served
on the World Trade Center Scientific and Technical Advisory
Committee for the National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health. From 2009-2011, Dr. Quint served on the National
Academy of Sciences Committee on Health Impact Assessment,
which was focused on improving health in the United States
using Health Impact Assessments as a tool to achieve that
goal. Dr. Quint earned her PhD in Biochemistry from the
University of Southern California.
6)Double referral. This bill was heard in the Senate Labor and
Industrial Relations Committee on April 6, 2016, and passed
with a 5-0 vote.
7)Related legislation. SB 1420 (Mendoza) would require all
licensed caregivers for children to complete a one-time
training on occupational health and safety risks specific to
the child care profession and how to identify and avoid those
risks. This bill also requires State Department of Education
(SDE) to develop the curriculum for the training, in
consultation with DPH, and to contract with a specified entity
to provide the training, provides for compensation for
caregivers attending the training. SB 1420 is also set for
hearing on April 20, 2016 in this Committee.
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8)Prior legislation. SB 193 (Monning of 2014), Required, except
as specified, chemical manufacturers, formulators, suppliers,
distributors, importers, and their agents to provide to HESIS
the names and addresses of their customers who have purchased
specified chemicals or commercial products containing those
chemicals, and certain other information related to those
shipments, upon written request of HESIS, for every product
the final destination of which may be a place of employment in
California.
AB 749 (Calderon, Chapter 6, Statutes of 2002), increased
workers' compensation benefits and implemented cost-saving
reforms in the administration of the workers' compensation
system. AB 749 also established an occupational safety and
health training center and created a job safety education
program.
9)Support. This bill is supported by the California Immigrant
Policy Center (CIPC), which states that occupational injury
and illness take a significant toll in California, both in
terms of health impacts and costs. CIPC states that this bill
will provide a cost effective, focused, and modest expansion
of funding for programs that will save both California workers
and their families from the economic ravages of work-related
injuries. The California Labor Federation states that no
comprehensive California-focused research agenda exists to
prevent injury and illnesses, and that when workers are
injured, those who are treated in community clinics may not be
linked to medical providers with specialized expertise in
work-related injuries. The director of the University of
California, Davis Agricultural Ergonomics Research Center
states that the partnership between the DPH and DIR will be
critical in the implementation of a broad and visionary
occupational health research agenda. The Labor and Employment
Committee of the National Lawyers Guild states that this bill
can bring together the existing statewide network of trainers
developed by WOSHTEP and engage them with experts and
government to identify priorities for research and improved
treatment. The San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of Physicians
for Social Responsibility supports an expanded role for DPH in
conducting occupational health surveillance and data analyses,
and looks forward to providing input along with other
stakeholders in the establishment and implementation of a
California occupational research agenda.
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SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION :
Support: California Immigrant Policy Center
California Labor Federation
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
Consumer Attorneys of California
Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association
National Employment Law Project
National Lawyers Guild Labor and Employment Committee
Physicians for Social Responsibility, San Francisco Bay Area
Chapter
State Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO
United Steelworkers Union Local 5
Worksafe
Several individuals
Oppose: None received
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