Legislation
WOEMA is active in its advocacy work to assure a healthy workforce and to follow and understand legislative and regulatory issues that affect physicians and public health. We contract with a legislative advocate in Sacramento who works with the Legislative Committee, one of the most active committees of WOEMA. This work is instrumental to WOEMA members and our patients to participate in policy debates that lead to improved outcomes for illness, injury and disability in the work environment.
Regulatory News
Some engineered stone countertop workers facing deadly lung disease from silica exposure
Thousands of workers in the engineered stone industry are falling ill due to silicosis. What doctors are saying needs to happen. Read the story…
NPR: Kitchen Countertop Workers Are Dying. Some Lawmakers Want to Ban Their Lawsuits
An epidemic of a deadly lung disease among hundreds of workers who cut kitchen and bathroom countertops has regulators on opposite sides of the country considering two drastically different responses this week. Read and listen to the podcast…
WOEMA Submits Petition to Revise 8 CCR § 5204 (Occupational Exposures to Respirable Crystalline Silica)
On December 12, 2025 WOEMA formally submitted a petition to the Cal/OSHA Standards Board to revise 8 CCR § 5204 (Occupational Exposures to Respirable Crystalline Silica) to prohibit all fabrication and installation tasks on engineered stone that contains more than 1% crystalline silica. This action reflects WOEMA’s ongoing commitment to worker health and the prevention of serious occupational disease.
BREAKING NEWS! Occupational Health MDs Call for Immediate Action to Save NIOSH
The recent decision to terminate a majority of the workforce at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), by June 2025, is a dangerous and shortsighted move that…
Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS) adopted by Cal/OSHA Standards Board
The Cal/OSHA Standards Board has made a landmark decision by unanimously adopting the Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) to protect workers in the stone fabrication industry from exposure to respirable crystalline silica), a crucial step in safeguarding worker health in the engineered stone fabricating industry.