Section 143 Of Chapter 6. Occupational Safety And Health Standards Board From California Labor Code >> Division 1. >> Chapter 6.
143
. (a) Any employer may apply to the board for a permanent
variance from an occupational safety and health standard, order,
special order, or portion thereof, upon a showing of an alternate
program, method, practice, means, device, or process which will
provide equal or superior safety for employees.
(b) The board shall issue such variance if it determines on the
record, after opportunity for an investigation where appropriate and
a hearing, that the proponent of the variance has demonstrated by a
preponderance of the evidence that the conditions, practices, means,
methods, operations, or processes used or proposed to be used by an
employer will provide employment and places of employment to his
employees which are as safe and healthful as those which would
prevail if he complied with the standard. The variance so issued
shall prescribe the conditions the employer must maintain, and the
practices, means, methods, operations, and processes which he must
adopt and utilize to the extent they differ from the standard in
question.
(c) The board is authorized to grant a variance from any standard
or portion thereof whenever it determines such variance is necessary
to permit an employer to participate in an experiment approved by the
director designed to demonstrate or validate new and improved
techniques to safeguard the health or safety of workers.
(d) A permanent variance may be modified or revoked upon
application by an employer, employees, or the division, or by the
board on its own motion, in the manner prescribed for its issuance
under this section at any time.