AB 3043: Occupational safety: fabrication activities.

Existing law establishes the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board within the Department of Industrial Relations to promulgate and enforce occupational safety and health standards for the state, including standards dealing with exposure to harmful airborne contaminants. Existing law requires the Division of Occupational Safety and Health within the department to enforce all occupational safety and health standards, as specified. A violation of these standards and regulations under specific circumstances is a crime.

This bill would prohibit a person engaged in fabrication activities or fabrication shops from using dry methods, and require the use of effective wet methods in any fabrication activities. The bill would make a violation of these provisions grounds for, among other disciplinary action, an immediate order prohibiting continued fabrication activities. The bill would authorize the Attorney General, upon request of the department, to petition the superior court to impose civil penalties for a violation of these provisions.

The bill would require, on or before July 1, 2025, the department to consult with representatives of approved apprenticeship programs to adopt a training curriculum regarding the safe performance of fabrication activities that meets specified requirements, including classroom instruction, and to certify an individual who has completed that curriculum immediately upon completion. The bill would prohibit, beginning July 1, 2026, an owner or operator of a slab product fabrication shop from permitting any individual from performing fabrication activities or employing an individual to perform work on the shop floor where those activities are conducted, unless the individual is certified by the department as having completed the training curriculum, except as specified.

The bill would require, on or before January 1, 2026, the department to develop an application and licensing process for fabrication shops to lawfully engage in fabrication activities known as a slab product fabrication activity license. The bill would authorize fabrication shops to engage in fabrication activities during the pendency of the application development and licensing process.

The bill would require, beginning January 1, 2026, the department to grant a 3-year license to a fabrication shop that demonstrates satisfaction of specified criteria involving workplace safety conditions and precautions, and would authorize license renewal, as specified. Among other conditions, the bill would establish certain regulatory fees in specified amounts for the license and renewal thereof. The bill would authorize the department to suspend or revoke a licensee in certain cases, including for gross negligence, as specified. The bill would prohibit a person or entity, or an employee thereof, from engaging in fabrication activities unless the person or entity has a license.

The bill would prohibit, beginning January 1, 2026, a person from supplying a slab product directly to a person or entity engaged in fabrication activities if the person or entity does not have a valid license. The bill would require a person that, among other things, supplies a slab product to a person or entity engaged in fabrication services to verify the person or entity has a license, as specified. The bill would require a person that supplies a slab product to a person or entity that is not engaged in fabrication activities to rely on written certification issued under penalty of perjury that, among other things, they will not directly engage in fabrication activities with the product without a license. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The bill would specify that a violation of any of the above-described provisions may be grounds for disciplinary action, as specified, but is not a crime. The bill would establish the Slab Fabrication Activity Account in the Occupational Safety and Health Fund in the State Treasury, and require all fees, penalties, or other moneys collected by the department under the above-described provisions to be deposited into the account. The bill would authorize moneys in the account to be expended by the department for the purposes of administering the above-described provisions, and would make that authorization contingent on an appropriation of funds for that express purpose.

The bill would require, beginning January 1, 2026, the Director of Industrial Relations to maintain a publicly accessible database on the departments internet website that includes, among other things, information on any active orders issued by the department in the prior 12 months prohibiting an activity at a fabrication shop, as specified.

On or before July 1, 2025, the bill would require the department, in consultation with specified agencies, to submit a report to the Legislature pursuant to prescribed requirements, including specifying the number of violations issued for failure to comply with any temporary or future standards relating to respirable crystalline silica adopted by the board, and the geographic areas in the state with the highest numbers of those violations. On or before January 1, 2027, and January 1, 2029, the bill would require the department, in consultation with other specified entities, to submit a report to the Legislature pursuant to prescribed requirements, including, in addition to the information contained in the initial report, the number of licenses issued by the department pursuant to the above-described provisions. The bill would require the department to collect and include in those reports the disaggregation of applicable data by stone industry, as specified. The bill would also require the department and the division to consider the findings of the reports to prioritize enforcement of the requirements of the bills provisions in geographic areas with the highest numbers of violations or other penalties issued by the department relating to respirable crystalline silica.

The bill would define various terms for these purposes. The bill would make findings and declarations related to these provisions.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.