California Averts Statewide Dry Cutting Ban

The masonry industry dodged a bullet by working with stakeholders and SB 46 author, Senator Richard Alarcon (D-San Fernando Valley), when Senator Alarcon withdrew the bill in the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee on the last day of the 2005/06 legislative session. In his statement withdrawing the measure, Senator Alarcon said that the withdrawal was based on good faith discussions with Cal/OSHA and the opposition (namely a construction industry coalition co-chaired by the California Conference of Mason Contractor Associations—CCMCA and the California Professional Association of Specialty Contractors--CalPASC) to pursue the matter through regulatory channels. This was a cooperative effort to bring a worker safety issue to the appropriate arena by letting the regulatory process do its job based on sound evidence and practical solutions without the legislature rushing a decision on how it should be done.

When SB 46 (Alarcon) was introduced on January 5, 2005, it was an innocuous enough bill on workers' compensation reform and rate regulation. It was not considered a critical threat to the masonry industry—it was not even on the radar. That all changed when, on June 13, 2006, the bill was amended to propose a statewide dry cutting ban.

As amended, SB 46 prohibited the dry cutting or grinding of masonry materials except in instances where it was determined that the use of water was not feasible. Problem was the bill did not identify "feasible" conditions nor did it identify who ultimately had the power to define "feasible" conditions.

Furthermore, SB 46 stated that if wet cutting was not feasible and dry cutting had to be performed, then employers would be required to meet all of the following controls:

• Use engineering and work practice controls, such as vacuums with high-efficiency particulate air filters or other dust control systems,
  
• Perform dry cutting in a designated area away from craftworkers, and
  
• Provide employees with full face respirators as part of a complete respiratory program.