Existing law establishes the Division of Occupational Safety and Health in the Department of Industrial Relations, and charges the division with the enforcement of various laws affecting safe working conditions, including the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973. Existing law requires the Director of Industrial Relations to prepare and submit to the Legislature an annual report on the activities of the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, as specified.
Existing law establishes the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, as one of the segments of postsecondary education in the state. Existing law requires the Department of Industrial Relations to contract with the University of California, Los Angeles Labor Center, to conduct a study evaluating opportunities to improve worker safety and safeguard employment rights, as specified, and to convene an advisory committee to make recommendations regarding the scope of the study, as described.
This bill would require the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to contract with the University of California, Berkeley Labor Occupational Health Program and the University of California, Los Angeles Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program to conduct a study evaluating the understaffing and vacancies within the division and recommending an effective strategy to establish a workforce training program for safety inspectors. The bill would authorize the University of California to subcontract the responsibility for conducting the study to other specified entities. The bill would require the University of California and its subcontractors, if any, to issue a report that includes certain information about the understaffing and vacancies within the division. The bill would further require the University of California to convene an advisory committee consisting of members from specified state agencies, worker advocacy organizations, and other academic institutions to make recommendations regarding the scope of the above-described study, as prescribed. The bill would require the department, 18 months after entering into the contract with the University of California, to post the completed report on the division's website and to forward the completed report to the members of the advisory committee, the Governor, and specified legislative committee chairs.