In the Field · Part 4

Cal/OSHA for a small shop: the IIPP every employer must have, heat illness prevention, trenching and the 5-foot permit, confined space, silica, and ladders

The day a plumbing business hires its first helper it becomes an employer, and Cal/OSHA's rules apply in full, with no small-business exemption. The first one is a written Injury and Illness Prevention Program, which every employer must have and almost no new contractor does. The rest are the rules for the work a plumber actually does: heat illness prevention outdoors and, since 2024, indoors; trenching, where a 5-foot trench needs a protective system and a Cal/OSHA permit before anyone climbs in; confined spaces, which include the interceptor vault and the manhole; silica from cutting concrete and tile; and ladders. This lesson gives each rule at the level a small shop must know it, with the section to read, and the case for treating the rules as the shop's, not the helper's.