State audit cites Cal/OSHA investigation and staffing failures; lawmakers press for stronger enforcement

State auditors and lawmakers on multiple legislative committees said California’s worker-safety regulator has systemic problems that limit its ability to protect employees, including slow or missing on-site inspections, heavy reliance on employer self-investigations and frequent reductions of fines with little documentation.

The state auditor, Grant Parks, told a joint oversight hearing that his office’s review of Cal/OSHA (the Division of Occupational Safety and Health) found inconsistent decisions about whether to inspect complaints, frequent delays in beginning inspections, paper-based case files that are sometimes incomplete or destroyed, and outdated guidance for investigators.

The audit covered a five‑year period through fiscal 2023–24 and included a review of 60 selected case files, analysis of complaint and fine data, and a comparison of Cal/OSHA fine calculations with the auditor’s recalculations. "These root causes ... limit Cal OSHA's ability to protect workers," Parks said, summarizing the report’s findings.

Why it matters

Lawmakers repeatedly framed the audit’s findings as a public‑safety issue. Chairwoman Lorena Ortega, who requested the audit, described multiple workplace deaths in her district and urged structural change beyond hiring more staff. "Is that what a life is worth in California?" Ortega asked, citing an example in which Cal/OSHA fines totaled about $18,000 for three fatal cases — approximately $6,000 per worker killed.

Timeliness, inspections and letters

The audit found that Cal/OSHA received about 10,500 valid complaints in fiscal 2023–24 and opened on‑site inspections in only about 20% of those cases, relying on so‑called "letter investigations" more than 80% of the time. In a letter investigation, auditors explained, Cal/OSHA asks the employer to investigate and report back; these letters do not result in fines. Nick Versace, the audit team lead, said the auditors found many instances where employer responses lacked documentary proof of corrective action and several where no response was recorded.

Parks and his team flagged multiple examples in which the agency did not perform an on‑site inspection despite case facts that the auditors judged merited one, and they found frequent delays in starting inspections. "For serious injury complaints, [inspections] started late around 23% of the time," Parks said.

Documentation, fines and settlements

Auditors said Cal/OSHA often lacked documentation showing why staff classified violations as general rather than serious, why they applied particular fine adjustments, or why large post‑citation reductions occurred. The audit team reviewed fine‑setting decisions and concluded that in many cases the agency did not record the rationale for reductions. Parks gave an example of a fatal forklift accident where Cal/OSHA imposed a roughly $21,000 total penalty while the auditors’ recalculation produced about $40,000.

The audit also reported that roughly 36% of inspections that included fines had reductions as part of post‑citation settlements, with an average reduction of about 56% for those cases. The report’s appendix showed year‑by‑year totals: for example, initial fines in fiscal 2019–20 were about $40.7 million, which fell to $28.2 million after reductions, and collections that year totaled about $20.4 million; for 2023–24 the report showed $30.6 million assessed after reductions and about $7.9 million collected.

Agency response and reforms described

Jennifer Osborne, director of the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR), and Deborah Lee, chief of Cal/OSHA, acknowledged the audit and described steps the division is taking. Lee said Cal/OSHA had created a policy unit, updated several policies, created a recruitment and retention unit, and hired staff. "We acknowledge the audit's findings and their recommendations," Lee said. She reported the division’s vacancy rate was 12% at the time of the hearing and said Cal/OSHA had hired 126 people in the first half of the year, while noting the figure reflects both elimination of 66 vacant positions in a statewide budget sweep and active hiring efforts.

Cal/OSHA officials described a multiyear IT project to create an electronic case management system that they expect will improve documentation, enforce required workflow checks, and enable management oversight. They estimated that the system could go live in late 2026 or 2027.

Criminal referrals and worker participation

Lawmakers pressed the agency on criminal referrals for fatal or serious cases and on whether workers or families can meaningfully participate in settlement discussions. The state auditor said his audit found about 31–32 criminal referrals during the five‑year audit period (about seven to eight per year), a small share of serious cases. Deborah Lee cited the Labor Code sections that authorize the Bureau of Investigations to investigate fatalities and serious injuries and to refer cases to prosecutors, and she said policies governing documentation of referral decisions were being finalized.

Multiple legislators urged clearer, mandatory documentation and limits on post‑citation reductions in cases of fatalities or serious injuries. "If we don't act today to reform CalOSHA, that's what we are saying ... that they're only worth $6,000 to the state of California," Ortega said of the small fines in several fatality cases.

Worker groups, safety advocates and business representatives

Labor and worker‑safety advocates said they support the audit and urged faster, stronger reforms including expedited hiring, more proactive inspections and protections for complainants. Elmer Lizardi of the California Federation of Labor said enforcement must be strengthened so employers that "routinely break the law" cannot treat penalties as the cost of doing business. WorkSafe’s Stephen Knight urged more proactive inspections in high‑hazard industries and stronger protections that encourage worker reporting without fear of retaliation.

The California Chamber of Commerce said it supports staffing Cal/OSHA but asked for more transparency in how enforcement funds are used. Robert Moutre of the CalChamber said the occupational safety and health fund (assessments on employers) has accumulated a surplus and called for clearer reporting about the fund and the use of employer assessments.

What lawmakers signaled next

Legislators from both parties pressed Cal/OSHA and DIR for near‑term deliverables: final updated policies, the 60‑day response the auditor requested, clearer documentation standards for fines and abatement, and evidence that newly hired staff are actually in enforcement roles. Several members signaled they would pursue bills or budget actions to (a) require clearer documentation and limits on post‑citation reductions, (b) improve hiring pipelines and classification specifications, and (c) consider criminal‑referral thresholds for egregious or fatal cases. The state auditor said his office will review Cal/OSHA’s progress at a 60‑day milestone in mid‑September and again at later checkpoints.

Ending

The auditors’ report and the hearing focused attention on gaps in investigations, documentation and enforcement that lawmakers described as a real‑world threat to worker safety. Agency leaders acknowledged the findings and described steps underway; lawmakers said they will press for measurable progress, clearer policies and—where needed—statutory changes to ensure the state’s worker‑safety rules are enforced consistently and transparently.