CalOSHA Standards Board to Consider Condoms at May Meeting

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) has announced that it will take up the proposed revision to the California Health Code, Title 8 Section 5193 at its May 21 meeting, which will be held in San Diego. The revision, which has been designated as new Section 5193.1, is titled "Sexually transmitted infections," and "covers all workplaces in which employees have occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens and/or sexually transmitted pathogens due to one or more employees engaging in sexual activity with another individual." The new standard has been ready since December 1 of last year, and many in the adult industry assumed that it would be taken up by the Standards Board as quickly as possible, but when the revision failed to make the agenda for the Board's March meeting, the Board Chair was so angered that according to news reports, he threatened to resign if consideration of the revision was not scheduled immediately. That meeting will take place at 10 a.m. on May 21 at the County Administration Center, 1600 Pacific Highway, Room 310, San Diego, CA 92101. Beginning on April 3, anyone interested in commenting on the proposal may submit such comments to the Board by email here, by fax to 916-274-5743, or by mail to Sarah Money, Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board, 2520 Venture Oaks Way, Suite 350, Sacramento, CA 95833. Such written comments will be accepted up to 5 p.m. on the day of the Board meeting. They may also be submitted at the meeting, and the Board will hear oral comments at the Board meeting as well. The Notice of Public Hearing, which summarizes some of the changes to the Health Code, can be found here. The complete draft revision to the Health Code, Section 5193.1, can be found here.