The 12 Days of California Labor and Employment Series – Day 6 "It's All OSHA"

In the spirit of the season, we are using our annual "12 Days of California Labor and Employment" blog series to address new California laws and their impact on employers. On the sixth day of the holidays, my labor and employment attorney gave to me six geese a-laying and AB 2975, AB 1976, and SB 1350.

Workplace safety was at the forefront this year, and at the start of 2025, there will be multiple new additions to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations.

Weapons Detection – AB 2975

AB 2975 requires hospitals to amend their mandatory workplace violence prevention plan to further protect healthcare workers and other facility personnel from aggressive and violent behavior. Hospitals will be required to implement a weapons detection screening policy that requires the use of weapons detection devices that automatically screen a person’s body.

Training Requirements

The screenings must be handled by trained staff other than a healthcare provider who has successfully completed a minimum of eight hours of training involving the following:

• Hospital policies and procedures on how to respond if a dangerous weapon is detected at the point of screening;
• How to operate the hospital’s weapons detection devices;
• De-escalation; and
• Implicit bias;

Training can be done in any manner that the hospital deems fit, including individual or group training. Training can occur on multiple days or on the same day.

Screening Details

The requisite screenings would be required at the following points:

1. a hospital’s main public entrance; and
2. at the entrance to the hospital’s emergency department, and
3. at the hospital’s labor and delivery entrance if separately accessible to the public.

Weapons detection devices other than handheld metal detector wands are required. The screenings cannot be done solely by a handheld metal detector wand unless you are one of the following:

• a small and rural hospital;
• a facility with spacing limitations; or
• a hospital that exclusively provides extended hospital care to patients with complex medical and rehabilitative needs, such as a hospital that is currently federally certified as a long-term care hospital or inpatient rehabilitation facility.

Screening Exceptions

A hospital has the right to exclude current hospital employees or healthcare providers who enter the hospital wearing an identification badge with their name on it from the screening process.

The weapons detection devices policy must also include protocols the hospital will follow when a dangerous weapon is detected and reasonable protocols for alternative search and screening for patients, families, or visitors who refuse to undergo weapons detection device screening.

Timing

AB 2975 provides that the Cal/OSHA Standards Board has until March 1, 2027, to revise current standards and incorporate the weapons screening requirement. After the standard is adopted, the hospitals will have an effective date within 90 days.

First Aid Kits – AB 1976

The opioid crisis continues, leading to the enactment of AB 1976. This law requires employers to include naloxone hydrochloride (Narcan) or another opioid antagonist approved by the FDA in their first aid kits to reverse an opioid overdose. AB 1976 also contains a provision to protect Good Samaritans who administer such medications in the case of a suspected opioid overdose.

Timing

The Division of Occupational Safety and Health must propose regulation language mandating the inclusion of Narcan or another FDA-approved opioid antagonist, along with usage instructions, in workplace first aid supplies by December 1, 2027. The Cal/OSHA Standards Board must consider a resulting standard for adoption by December 1, 2028.

Household Domestic Workers – SB 1350

Currently, Cal/OSHA excludes household domestic service under its definition of "employment." With the enactment of SB 1350, this exclusion is removed, and the definition of "employment" is amended to include household domestic service performed on a permanent or temporary basis. The following household domestic services are still excluded from the definition:

• Household domestic service that is publicly funded, including publicly funded household domestic service provided to a recipient, client, or beneficiary with a share of the cost of that service;
• Employment in family daycare homes; and
• Individuals who, in their own residences, privately employ persons to perform for the benefit of such individuals what are commonly regarded as ordinary domestic household tasks, including housecleaning, cooking, and caregiving.

Timing

SB 1350 takes effect on July 1, 2025.

Next Steps

Although numerous amendments are coming down the pipeline, fortunately, there is not much employers need to do at this time as we are in the waiting period for the Standards Board and the Division to formulate the regulations.

The requirements under AB 2975 and AB 1976 seemingly will not be required until 2027 so employers do have a time cushion. However, hospitals should monitor AB 2875 as once the current standards are amended by the Standards Board, hospitals will only have a short time to incorporate the new requirements into their workplace violence prevention plan.