California Workplace Safety Board Approves Heat Protections for Indoor Workers, Excluding Prisons

LOS ANGELES—A state worker safety board June 20 approved standards that would require employers to protect workers from indoor heat, but would exempt state correctional facilities. The board of the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health first passed indoor heat rules in March. However, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration blocked them over concerns about costs to prisons and other state entities. The amended rules, which stand to impact about 1.4 million workers and 196,000 establishments, need final approval from the Office of Administrative Law to take effect. And after Thursday’s vote, Cal/OSHA board chair Joseph M. Alioto Jr. requested that the office expedite that step....