Cal/OSHA Offers More Details About Jan. 31 Advisory Meeting

SACRAMENTO — Cal/OSHA will have on hand two agency officials at January’s advisory meeting that will discuss two petitions surrounding bloodborne pathogen exposure in the adult film industry.

At the meeting, Cal/OSHA plans on evaluating the two petitions — Petition 560, which was filed by the FSC, and Petition 557, filed by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Both request new regulatory language for § 5193 to address occupational exposures to bloodborne pathogens.

Eric Berg, Cal/OSHA’s deputy chief of research and standards, and Steve Smith, the agency’s industrial hygiene manager, will co-chair the advisory meeting, according to Cal/OSHA spokeswoman Julia Bernstein.

“So far, the plan is to have one meeting with the stakeholders, and after that meeting they will decide on whether to propose changes to Title 8 [regulations] or have another meeting,” Bernstein told XBIZ.

All interested parties are invited to attend and allowed to comment during the meeting, Bernstein said.

The advisory meeting will be held at the Elihu Harris State Building in Oakland, Calif. — site of this past February’s dramatic Standards Board meeting where state-appointed officials effectively shot down draft proposal § 5193.1, which would have greatly expanded barrier protection for porn performers.

January’s advisory meeting is in response to a request by the Standards Board and the two petitions granted by the board.

The advisory meeting was moved up to Jan. 31 by Cal/OSHA officials from its original Nov. 10 scheduled date.

Eric Leue, the Free Speech Coalition’s executive director, told XBIZ that he requested the date change because it gave adult entertainment stakeholders not enough time for them to rearrange schedules and attend the meeting.

If planned as scheduled, the Nov. 10 date also would have been just two days after the general election that will decide Proposition 60, the AHF’s ballot initiative that would offer bounties on porn producers delivering condom-less sex scenes

The “Bloodborne Pathogens Exposure in the Adult Film Industry Advisory Meeting” will be held Tuesday, Jan. 31, at 10 a.m., lasting until 3:30 p.m. at the Elihu Harris State Building, 1515 Clay St., 2nd floor, Room 1, in Oakland, Calif.