The Cal/OSHA standards board will consider new COVID-19 regulations for employers in November. Yet industry groups asked the board Thursday to slow down and allow more time for stakeholders to add their input for the process.
The California Farm Bureau’s Bryan Little pointed to the board’s regulation last year requiring masks for employees coping with smoke haze as a case in point of the pitfalls when the process is rushed. Employers have been required to provide N95s despite a nationwide shortage due to the pandemic.
“Something as widely sweeping as a COVID-19 regulation should go through the regulatory process,” he said.
Rob Moutrie, a policy advocate for the California Chamber of Commerce, argued that more regulations are not needed. Rather, more enforcement is needed for existing regulations. Construction groups added that “there’s no reason to think the existing regulations aren't working.”
