All Employers Must Establish Detailed Safety Plans or Risk Fines and Penalties

Date: July 1991

Beginning on July 1, 1991, every California employer — even those with only one employee — are required to comply with new Cal/OSHA standards. The new law (known as S.B. 198), requires that every workplace in California have a written Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IPP).

More than just a "technical" requirement, the law is fairly detailed as to what the IPP must contain. At a minimum the IPP must be written and must address each of the following six requirements:

1.     Designation of the individual(s) responsible for its implementation and administration;
2.     Identification of all workplace hazards and investigation of injuries and illnesses;
3..    Regularly scheduled inspections to identify safety problems;  
4.     Correction of safety-related deficiencies "in a timely manner";  
5.     Employee training as to general workplace hazards as well as hazards specific to the jobs they perform; and  
6.     A system for communication with employees on safety matters in ways that all affected employees can understand.

With respect to all aspects of the plan, the law requires that accurate records and documentation be kept and that these documents be made available to Cal/OSHA investigators upon request. Because the law requires an identification of workplace hazards, a health survey of each facility is required. Therefore the plan cannot just be a general "fill-in-the-blanks" form but instead must be specifically designated for each employer's workplace.

Importantly, the legal requirements are not limited merely to those types of facilities normally thought to be "hazardous" such as manufacturing operations. Instead the law applies to every California employer. Thus employers who only maintain an office environment must also comply with the new law's requirements.

Failure to comply with the law can result in fairly stiff fines and penalties. For example, civil penalties can be as much as $2,000 per day. The law also establishes certain criminal penalties — including fines of up to $25,000 against employers who fail to comply with, correct, and/or report serious concealed dangers in the workplace.

Our Labor Department represents employers in wrongful termination and employment discrimination cases in state and federal courts. The department also represents employers in collective bargaining negotiations, arbitrations and matters before state and federal administrative agencies. In addition, we provide general labor counseling on unionization, personnel policies, grievances and wage and hour issues.

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