Cal/OSHA Staffing Problems Persist- and So Do We

by Stephen Knight

We’ve written before about the ongoing staffing crisis at the Department of Industrial Relations, which includes both Cal/OSHA and the Labor Commissioner. I recently read an internal Cal/OSHA report, which included that:

• Growth at Cal/OSHA (aka the Division of Occupational Safety and Health — DOSH) has fallen significantly behind the growth in the size of the state’s workforce, and there are “currently critical vacancies throughout the Division” that are making it difficult even for that insufficient level of staffing to effectively regulate employers and protect workers;
• Staff are concerned about poor quality of internal communications, and the fact that “there has been no consistent and effective explanation” regarding the agency’s goals and objectives;
• These are “long-standing issues within the Division,” going back as far as the end of the 1980s;
• “an overwhelming concern of interviewed employees was the understaffing and critical vacancies throughout the Division, including administrative staff, attorneys and medical personnel, as well as field personnel and managers.”
• The memo closes with a statement of dedication from leadership to explore “how to eliminate all critical vacancies in DOSH… especially in the areas of industrial hygiene and multilingual capacity.”

These are incredibly topical and concerning observations from inside the agency. Cal/OSHA’s depletion of industrial hygienists is chronic, and KQED recently brought a focus to the severe shortage of multilingual employees.

So you may be surprised to learn that all of the quotes come from a memo written in November 2011 — a report back after interviews with almost 400 employees at DIR. That’s right, more than a dozen years ago. All the same issues and concerns.

New Cal/OSHA chief Debra Lee and her team have made clear their focus on filling staffing gaps and we share their concern — nobody wants to come back in 2036 and find Cal/OSHA is still not equipped to protect California’s workers.