Congratulations Leonard Brown!; the New Heat Standard, BWOP updates, & RFPs
Congratulations Leonard Brown!; the New Heat Standard, BWOP updates, & RFPs

 September Newsletter

Congratulations, National COSH We Rise Worker Leader Leonard Brown!

Worker Leader Leonard Brown recently graduated from the National Coalition of Occupational Safety and Health (NCOSH) We Rise Worker Leadership Academy. As part of his matriculation, he completed a Capstone project: How to Build a Worker Campaign for the Workplace Violence Bill.
Leonard started with Worksafe in February of this year, doing worker outreach for BWOP (Black Worker Outreach Project). Since that time he has reached hundreds of workers, informing them of their legal rights and connecting them to resources and community to support them in the workplace.
Watch the presentation he gave at the culmination of his project.  

Protections for Domestic Workers


Worksafe is excited to support SB 1350, which builds off of recommendations from the Household Domestic Services Employment Safety Committee (SB 321) to include Cal/OSHA coverage for domestic service providers employed by agencies or other third-party employers. This change will provide workplace protections to more than 175,000 domestic workers, and is a critical step towards ensuring health and safety protections for all California workers. As Senator Maria Durazo told the Sacramento Bee, “we know that there are many more – double that number that actually exist in private homes.” We applaud the California Domestic Worker Coalition for the hard work it took to achieve this important step forward.

Indoor Heat Protections Now in Effect 


California has now enacted groundbreaking protections for indoor workers from excessive heat on the job. ​We last wrote about this in March after a significant setback that seemed poised to derail the entire ​​proposal.​ As we wrote then, “The proof will be seen in whether the standard gets rapidly back on track - or not.” Then, at its June meeting, the Standards Board voted unanimously to approve the new rule and - to its credit - the Newsom administration delivered on a ​v​ow to see the rule enacted before summer 2024 came to a close. The rule went into effect ​almost immediately, on July​ 23.
​California employers with workplaces that reach 82 degrees must now have a Heat Illness Prevention Plan that "must be specific and customized to the employer’s operations.” Workers are to be trained on the plan. Cool down areas and cold drinking water must be provided and easy to access during working hours. Cal/OSHA's FAQ has many more details. "The employer is required to allow and encourage workers to take a cool-down rest in a cool-down area for a period of no less than five minutes at a time when they feel the need to do so to protect themselves from overheating. Waiting until symptoms appear before taking a cool-down rest may be too late."
Many injuries occur with new employees, and businesses are required to observe workers who are acclimatizing to work in higher temperatures.
When temperatures reach 87 degrees, employers must take additional steps to protect workers from the dangers of high heat, including implementing a hierarchy of control measures to avoid or reduce the heat and administrative controls to minimize the risk of their workers suffering heat illness.
We have a long way to go before this new policy becomes real for the millions of California workers that it is intended to protect; Mother Jones is reporting that related protections won by UPS drivers nationwide are proving slow to show up in the actual workplace. The exclusion of prison facilities from the rule is brutal and we are working to overcome this cruel policy. But the passage of the Heat Illness Prevention in Indoor Places of Employment is a dramatic step forward that moves California forward as a leader in shaping worker protections in the 21st century. Worksafe is proud of the part we played, along with countless workers and advocates, to get this reform passed.
BWOP Making Great Strides
The Black Worker Outreach Project (BWOP) has been making significant strides over the past few months towards empowering the Black workforce through education, advocacy, and community building - and since September 2023, has reached out to over 3,000 Black workers!
On a zoom call with the BWOP team
“Worker Fundamentals: Train the Trainer” Training at St. Andrews Baptist Church on August 25th
In August, BWOP initiated a partnership with Pastor Robert Lacy of St. Andrews Church in Oakland. In this collaboration, Jora Trang and Oraiu Amoni trained a group of church members on facilitating trainings focused on worker health and safety. These trained members are now equipped to pass along this crucial information to their congregations, expanding the impact of BWOP’s efforts. In addition, BWOP is delving into our next level Worker Fundamentals with cohorts from prior trainings ready to move into advanced advocacy training and the implementation of a legal clinic.

The BWOP team recently held an energizing staff retreat and solidified the mission statement, core values, and projected plans into 2025, including laying the groundwork for another summit scheduled for the summer of 2025.
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