SACRAMENTO — California’s Occupational Safety & Health Standards Board says that it will review the AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s latest petition to amend Cal/OSHA’s current bloodborne pathogens standards for adult producers.
The AHF’s new petition, a facsimile of its previous proposal that didn’t get the required votes to pass last month at a Standards Board meeting, was drafted and submitted 11 days after the defeat in Oakland, Calif., over the proposed § 5193.1.
Three weeks ago, Marley Hart, an official with the Standards Board, told the AHF in a letter that correspondence over amending the bloodborne pathogens standards was received and that it has created a “Board’s Petition File No. 557.”
Hart said that a decision to continue the AHF’s proposal will be considered by the Standards Board at a future monthly business meeting. By law, Hart said, the Standards Board must address the AHF’s new plan within six months.
The AHF’s latest proposal over bloodborne pathogens standards for adult producers, like the previous plan that didn’t get the required votes in Oakland, also makes condoms mandatory.
The AHF’s new request to amend § 5193 in California’s Code of Regulations can be viewed here. The proposal clarifies definitions and adds a new section for adult film production.
In its request, AHF President Michael Weinstein said that “Cal/OSHA’s enforcement efforts have to date been met largely with open defiance and contempt by the bulk of the adult film industry” and that “major adult film studios have been particularly flagrant in their disregard for workplace safety.”
“The intransigence of this industry is inexcusable,” Weinstein said in the request. “Worker safety is not a joke, and I am unaware of any other industry that is as consistently dismissive of reasonable government oversight as the adult film industry.”
