(a) The Legislature finds and declares that Valley Fever is caused by a microscopic fungus known as Coccidioides immitis, which lives in the top 2 to 12 inches of soil in many parts of the state. When soil is disturbed by activities such as digging, grading, or driving, or is disturbed by environmental conditions such as high winds, fungal spores can become airborne and can potentially be inhaled.
(b) This section applies to a construction employer with employees working at worksites in counties where Valley Fever is highly endemic, including, but not limited to, the Counties of Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, Monterey, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare, and Ventura, where work activities disturb the soil, including, but not limited to, digging, grading, or other earth moving operations, or vehicle operation on dirt roads, or high winds. Highly endemic means that the annual incidence rate of Valley Fever is greater than 20 cases per 100,000 persons per year.
(c) An employer subject to this section pursuant to subdivision (b) shall provide effective awareness training on Valley Fever to all employees by May 1, 2020, and annually by that date thereafter, and before an employee begins work that is reasonably anticipated to cause exposure to substantial dust disturbance. Substantial dust disturbance means visible airborne dust for a total duration of one hour or more on any day. The training may be included in the employer’s injury and illness prevention program training or as a standalone training program. The training shall include all of the following topics:
(1) What Valley Fever is and how it is contracted.
(2) High risk areas and types of work and environmental conditions during which the risk of contracting Valley Fever is highest.
(3) Personal risk factors that may create a higher risk for some individuals, including pregnancy, diabetes, having a compromised immune system due to causes including, but not limited to, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), having received an organ transplant, or taking immunosuppressant drugs such as corticosteroids or tumor necrosis factor inhibitors.
(4) Personal and environmental exposure prevention methods that may include, but are not limited to, water-based dust suppression, good hygiene when skin and clothing is soiled by dust, limiting contamination of drinks and food, working upwind from dusty areas when feasible, wet cleaning dusty equipment when feasible, and wearing a respirator when exposure to dust cannot be avoided.
(5) The importance of early detection, diagnosis, and treatment to help prevent the disease from progressing. Early diagnosis and treatment are important because the effectiveness of medication is greatest in early stages of the disease.
(6) Recognizing common signs and symptoms of Valley Fever, which include fatigue, cough, fever, shortness of breath, headache, muscle aches or joint pain, rash on upper body or legs, and symptoms similar to influenza that linger longer than usual.
(7) The importance of reporting symptoms to the employer and seeking medical attention from a physician and surgeon for appropriate diagnosis and treatment.
(8) Common treatment and prognosis for Valley Fever.
(d) Training materials may include existing material on Valley Fever developed by a federal, state, or local agency, including, but not limited to, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the State Department of Public Health, or a local health department.
(e) In the event that a county which has not been previously identified as being highly endemic is determined to be highly endemic per the annual report published by the State Department of Public Health, this section does not apply in the initial year of that county’s listing in the report. However, this section applies to employers in that county in the year subsequent to the department’s publication that initially identified the county as being highly endemic.
(f) This section applies to an employer whenever employment exists in connection with the construction, alteration, painting, repairing, construction maintenance, renovation, removal, or wrecking of any fixed structure or its parts.
(Amended by Stats. 2020, Ch. 370, Sec. 225. (SB 1371) Effective January 1, 2021.)