Cal/OSHA did not publish its new proposed regulations for adult production in early February. Since a 45-day public comment period is required between the release of proposed regs and a hearing at which testimony for and against the regs may be presented — and the next Standards Board meeting is slated for March 19 — it now appears that public hearings on the measure will not take place until April or May.

The proposed regulations are intended to supercede those currently in effect, embodied in California Code of Regulations Title 8 Sec. 5193. Those regs were written for medical clinics and mortuaries back in the 1990s, and mandate “barrier protections” for healthcare workers exposed to blood or infectious materials.

Under Sec. 5193, anything you wouldn’t want to happen to you in the course of your duties in a clinic (such as having someone ejaculate or squirt on you, or penetrate you), became a forbidden “exposure event” in the context of adult film sets — even though such “exposure” was the job itself.

As TRPWL reported on Feb. 3,

Egged on by AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), Cal/OSHA has undertaken to create a brand new code section, Sec. 5193.1, and the latest draft, dated 12-1-2014, makes it crystal clear that what you or I call “porn”, Cal/OSHA calls impermissible “exposure”, requiring detailed documentation and record-keeping, medical follow-up, etc…

FSC and APAC are expected to vigorously oppose the draft regs, and expert medical and epidemiological testimony is anticipated.