More regulations are on the way to protect construction workers, landscapers, road crews and other outdoor workers from heat illness.

Prompted by a series of statewide inspections during a heat wave in April, when several employers were cited for failing to provide enough shade for outdoor workers, the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board this week will consider a series of clarifications and amendments to its 2005 heat illness prevention regulation.

“We are now in our fourth year of enforcing this standard, which was enacted to protect outdoor employees from the hazard of heat illness,” said John Duncan, director of the state Department of Industrial Relations, which includes the standards board. “We have found from our enforcement activities that there is a need for the standard to be clarified so that more employers will comply fully and effectively with its provisions.”

If approved by the standards board at its June 18 meeting, the emergency changes will kick in immediately, just in time for the start of summer.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week issued a statement urging quick adoption of the changes.

In Los Angeles County, the construction and outdoor landscaping industries will likely be impacted the most. In other parts of the state, particularly the Central Valley, farming enterprises would be hit the hardest.

The biggest change will be more explicit requirements that employers have shady areas available and accessible for workers once the outdoor temperature goes above 85 degrees. There must be enough shade to shelter 25 percent of all active outdoor workers at a site at any given point in time.

While the current regulations state that employees “shall have access to an area of shade,” OSHA said that many employers were making shady areas available only after workers requested them.

In other instances, not enough shade was available to shelter the number of workers at the site.

Other changes in the emergency regulation include requirements that supervisors periodically notify workers to drink water and closely monitor new workers who may be unaccustomed to hot weather.

Bill Update

A bill that would have revived an emissions reduction credit bank failed to clear the state Senate last week and the plan is now on hold for at least another year as a result.

The bill, SB 696 by Sen. Rod Wright, D-Los Angeles, was drafted in response to a court ruling last year that halted the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s program to distribute free or discounted emissions credits to small businesses and public agencies.

Last fall, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ann Jones blocked the program, siding with environmentalists who had sued the AQMD over its practice of granting discounted pollution credits to small businesses and public agencies because they believed the program was lenient on polluters. On the open market, credits could cost up to $2 million to offset the pollution from a single piece of new manufacturing or construction equipment. Smaller businesses can’t afford the credits, so the program could prevent them from expanding.

Wright said the freeze on these credits was hurting small business and public agencies working on infrastructure projects. He noted that the AQMD, major business groups and labor unions were supporting his bill.

But the bill failed to get the two-thirds vote it needed on the Senate floor June 9 and was referred back to committee.

The AQMD and business groups have appealed the court ruling, but were hoping for quicker relief from the Legislature.

Tax Reminders

Retailers: It’s time once again to adjust your sales tax calculators.

Thanks to last fall’s voter approval of Measure R, on July 1, the sales tax rate in Los Angeles County goes up 0.5 percent, to a new base rate of 9.75 percent. The rate hike will raise an estimated $1.3 billion a year for the next 30 years to fund a host of transportation-related improvements throughout Los Angeles County.

The state Board of Equalization notes that several cities in the county have tacked on additional sales taxes over the years. Avalon, El Monte and Inglewood will have sales tax rates of 10.25 percent as of July 1, while Pico Rivera and South Gate will have rates of 10.75 percent, the highest in the state.

City officials reminded business owners in Los Angeles about the tax amnesty program, which began May 1 and goes through Aug. 31. During this period, business owners can pay any current or past business taxes they owe to the city’s Office of Finance without incurring penalties.

Staff reporter Howard Fine can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 227.