Sacramento, CA — All public utilities in California and their independent contractors or subcontractors must have an AED on worksites with electrical lines, under a new state law.
A.B. 365, introduced by Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo (D-Chatsworth), specifically calls for an AED at sites where electrical utility employees are working on transmission or distribution lines of 601 volts or more. AEDs are medical devices designed to analyze heart rhythms and deliver an electric shock to victims of cardiac arrest.
Also known as the Justin Kropp Safety Act, the legislation is named for a lineworker who was electrocuted in 2018 while working at a site in the Mojave Desert. It went into effect Jan. 1.
Additional requirements:
- Maintain and regularly test the AED based on the manufacturer’s specifications.
- Check the readiness of an AED after every use and at least once every 30 days.
- Activate the emergency medical services system as soon as possible once emergency care or treatment with an AED to a person in cardiac arrest is rendered, and report AED use to the local EMS agency.
- Create a written plan describing procedures in the event of an emergency that may involve AED use, including immediate notification of the EMS system.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Diamond Bar Local 47 and Vacaville Local 1245 applaud the legislation’s enactment.
“The work we do is inherently dangerous, but that doesn’t soften the blow you get from losing a union brother or sister,” Local 47 Business Manager Colin Lavin said in a press release. “We support any means of making our jobsites safer, and this bill is a simple yet incredibly effective way to do that.”
