Existing law authorizes the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (board) to adopt, amend, or repeal occupational safety and health standards and orders, as prescribed. Existing law requires the Division of Occupational Safety and Health in the Department of Industrial Relations, known as Cal-OSHA, to propose to the board for its review and adoption, a standard that protects the health and safety of employees who engage in lead-related construction work and meets all requirements imposed by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Existing regulations promulgated by the division require an employer to ensure that an employee is not exposed to lead at concentrations greater than 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air averaged over an 8-hour period.

This bill would require Cal-OSHA to complete conduct rulemaking, in conjunction with the standards board, as specified, to establish a revised permissible exposure limit for lead in complete the rulemaking and adopt the lead standards in the regulations described above by no later than February 1, 2020. The bill would authorize the adoption of emergency regulations by the standards board as necessary to implement these provisions.