Occupational safety and health: heat illness prevention certification.

Existing law establishes the Division of Occupational Safety and Health within the Department of Industrial Relations and sets forth its powers and duties, including jurisdiction over all employment and places of employment, with the power necessary to enforce and administer all occupational health and safety laws and standards. Existing law, the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973, requires employers to comply with certain safety and health standards, as specified, and charges the division with enforcement of those provisions. Existing law requires the division to submit to the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board a rulemaking proposal to consider revising, among other things, the Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez heat illness standard, as specified. Under existing law, certain knowing, negligent, or willful violations of safety and health standards are punishable as misdemeanors. This bill would, commencing July 1, 2028, require an employee to obtain a heat illness prevention certification from the division within 30 days after the date of hire and to maintain a valid certification for the duration of their employment, as specified. The bill would require the division to develop and make accessible the heat illness prevention certification process on its internet website by July 1, 2028, and to offer the certification process in English and in the five most used non-English languages. This bill would require the certification process to include certain minimum requirements, including, among other things, that the training course include basic, introductory instruction on the elements of knowledge and heat illness prevention practices as described in the heat illness standard. The bill would require an employer to include the heat illness prevention certification process as part of its on-the-job training for employees, subject to specified requirements. This bill would require an employer to consider the time that it takes for an employee to complete the training course and examination as compensable hours worked and to pay an employee for necessary expenditures or losses associated with the employee obtaining a heat illness prevention certification. The bill would prohibit an employer from conditioning employment on an applicant or employee having an existing valid heat illness prevention certification. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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.