The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- California
- Level
- State
- Authority
- California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973, Stats. 1973, ch. 993 (Labor Code div. 5, pt. 1); sec. 6400 as amended by Stats. 1999, ch. 615, sec. 4 (eff. Jan. 1, 2000); sec. 6407 as amended by Stats. 1977, ch. 62; sec. 6401.7 (injury prevention program) as amended
- Issued
- 2000-01-01 Jan. 1, 2000
- Effective
- standing (read as 2000-01-01)
- End
- standing (read as 2021-09-30)
- In force
- Standing since Jan. 1, 2000 (a statutory duty; in force throughout the six quarters)
- Quarters
- 2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Workplace rulesStanding duty
- Addressees
- employers (every employer in the State; section 6400(b) allocates citations on multiemployer worksites)
- Character
- workplace duty
- Collection
- Standing duties: California DUT-CA
Operative words
6400(a): Every employer shall furnish employment and a place of employment that is safe and healthful for the employees therein. 6401:... Every employer shall do every other thing reasonably necessary to protect the life, safety, and health of employees. 6402: No employer shall require, or permit any employee to go or be in any employment or place of employment which is not safe and healthful.
Penalty
Labor Code section 6423 (misdemeanor: knowing or negligent violation of a standard or order deemed serious; up to six months and $5,000), sections 6427-6429 (civil penalties per violation, indexed), section 6325 (prohibition of use of a place of employment on imminent hazard) (DUT-CA-010; CA-065).
What it required
Bound every California employer, on every day of the six quarters, to furnish a safe and healthful place of employment, to adopt the practices, means, methods and processes reasonably adequate to make it so, to do every other thing reasonably necessary to protect employees' health, to maintain a written injury prevention program, and to comply with every occupational safety and health standard, rule, regulation and order (section 6407), which from Nov. 30, 2020 included 8 C.C.R. section 3205 (CA-023, CA-024).
Retrieval noteOfficial text as displayed Sept. 28, 2026. History notes: sections 6401, 6402 and 6404 '(Repealed and added by Stats. 1973, Ch. 993.)'; section 6400 '(Amended by Stats. 1999, Ch. 615, Sec. 4. Effective January 1, 2000.)'; section 6407 '(Amended by Stats. 1977, Ch. 62.)'. The operative sentences relied on were therefore in force unchanged throughout 2020-2021. Section 6403: 'No employer shall fail or neglect to do any of the following: (a) To provide and use safety devices and safeguards reasonably adequate to render the employment and place of employment safe. (b) To adopt and use methods and processes reasonably adequate to render the employment and place of employment safe. (c) To do every other thing reasonably necessary to protect the life, safety, and health of employees.' Section 6407: 'Every employer and every employee shall comply with occupational safety and health standards, with Section 25910 of the Health and Safety Code, and with all rules, regulations, and orders pursuant to this division which are applicable to his own actions and conduct.' Section 6401.7(a): 'Every employer shall establish, implement, and maintain an effective injury prevention program. The program shall be written, except as provided in subdivision (e)'; the exhibit's history note for section 6401.7 shows an amendment by Stats. 2024, ch. 80 (SB 1525) effective Jan. 1, 2025, so the subdivision (a) sentence is relied on as displayed and the 2020-2021 wording of the section's later subdivisions is not separately verified (the regulatory duty in force in the period is 8 C.C.R. section 3203, DUT-CA-011). Later-added sections in the chapter (e.g., 6403.1 on health-care PPE inventories, 2022-2025 amendments) postdate the period and are not relied on; AB 685's section 6409.6 is held as the chaptered bill in CA-065.