2020 California Code
Labor Code - LAB
DIVISION 5 - SAFETY IN EMPLOYMENT
PART 1 - OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH
CHAPTER 3 - Responsibilities and Duties of Employers and Employees
Section 6403.3.
(a) For purposes of this section:
(1) “Employer” means a person or organization that employs workers in the public or private sector to provide direct patient care in a general acute care hospital, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 1250 of the Health and Safety Code.
(2) “Personal protective equipment” means the equipment and devices necessary to comply with Sections 3380 and 5199 of Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations, provided that those requirements are at least as protective as those sections read on May 4, 2020.
(b) An employer shall supply personal protective equipment to employees who provide direct patient care or provide services that directly support patient care in a general acute care hospital. An employer shall ensure that employees use the personal protective equipment supplied to them.
(c) (1) Beginning April 1, 2021, an employer shall maintain a stockpile of the following equipment in the amount equal to three months of normal consumption:
(A) N95 filtering facepiece respirators.
(B) Powered air-purifying respirators with high efficiency particulate air filters.
(C) Elastomeric air-purifying respirators and appropriate particulate filters or cartridges.
(D) Surgical masks.
(E) Isolation gowns.
(F) Eye protection.
(G) Shoe coverings.
(2) Single use equipment in the stockpile shall be unexpired, new, and not previously worn or used. An employer shall provide an inventory of its stockpile and a copy of its written procedures required pursuant to subdivision (f) to the Division of Occupational Safety and Health upon request. An employer who violates the requirement to maintain a supply of equipment prescribed by this subdivision shall be assessed a civil penalty of up to twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) for each violation, unless the department determines that the employer could not meet the requirement due to issues beyond their control, such as the employer can demonstrate that equipment needed to meet the requirements of this section has been ordered from their manufacturer or distributor and not fulfilled, or has been damaged or stolen. The exemption from a civil penalty shall apply only to the type of equipment listed in paragraph (1) that is affected by issues beyond the employer's control. An employer shall still maintain the equipment that is not affected by issues beyond the employer's control.
(d) If an employer provides health care services in a facility or other setting controlled by another employer who is obligated to maintain a stockpile pursuant to subdivision (c), the employer who controls the facility or other setting shall maintain the required equipment for the employer providing health care services in that facility or setting.
(e) On or before January 15, 2021, an employer licensed under subdivision (a) of Section 1250 of the Health and Safety Code shall be prepared to report to the department, under penalty of perjury, its highest seven-day consecutive daily average consumption of personal protective equipment during the 2019 calendar year, upon request by the department. General acute care hospitals under the jurisdiction of the State Department of State Hospitals are exempt from this requirement. State hospitals shall make their highest seven-day consecutive daily average consumption of personal protective equipment during the 2019 calendar year available upon request to the Division of Occupational Safety and Health.
(f) An employer shall establish and implement effective written procedures for periodically determining the quantity and types of equipment used in its normal consumption.
(g) The division may enforce an alleged violation of this section through the issuance of a citation, pursuant to Section 6317.
(h) Subdivision (b) is declaratory of existing law.
(Added by Stats. 2020, Ch. 313, Sec. 2. (AB 2537) Effective January 1, 2021.)
