Cal/OSHA proposed a new Cal/OSHA walkaround rule that could put a union rep or outside advocate in your facility during an inspection. The comment deadline is April 1, 2026, so we broke down what the rule actually changes and six things you can lock down before it takes effect.

Cal/OSHA walkaround rule: who might join the inspection

The Cal/OSHA walkaround rule proposal would define who may accompany an inspector during a workplace visit. A safety inspector showing up is hard enough when it is just your team. It gets harder when an employee asks to bring an outside person along.

The stake is not the rule text. The stake is whether you have a repeatable day-of process for who can walk, where they can go, and what you can prove later. If your HR operations do not include an inspection-readiness plan, now is the time to build one.

6 checks to run now so an inspection does not turn into a facility-access fight

This hits you when the inspection plan lives in people’s heads instead of in a packet. In new employer setups, we usually find the gap is not intent. It is that nobody ever wrote down how to handle an employee’s chosen representative.

What Cal/OSHA is trying to clarify, in plain English

California Labor Code section 6314 gives both an employer representative and an employee-authorized representative the opportunity to accompany the Cal/OSHA inspector. Current California law does not specifically define who qualifies as an authorized representative for this purpose, according to CalChamber’s summary in HRWatchdog.

CalChamber reports the proposed rule would clarify that the employee-authorized representative may be an employee, a third party, or the collective bargaining representative. That is the third-party lane many employers do not have written down.

A similar federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) walkaround rule went into effect in 2024. Because California operates a federally approved state OSHA plan, it must adopt standards that are at least as effective as federal OSHA standards, per federal OSHA’s laws and regulations page.

According to Littler’s analysis, Cal/OSHA is framing the proposal as a fast-track Horcher amendment. Littler also flags that the California proposal is not identical to the federal approach in a few practical ways. See Littler’s walkaround rule analysis.

How VertiSource HR helps you prepare for the Cal/OSHA walkaround rule

Operationally, the repeatable decision you need on inspection day is simple: who the employee says represents them, whether that person can safely access your work areas, and how you protect sensitive spaces while still cooperating. The hard part is that the right answer can change by department, not just by company. Our workers’ compensation services include inspection-readiness setup so you are not improvising under pressure.

If you operate outside California, do not assume this stays in California. Federal OSHA already updated its approach in 2024, and state-plan states often track federal changes. Contact our team to review your current inspection documentation.

Ryan Joyce

VP of Operations & HR Technology, VertiSource HR

Ryan writes on payroll operations, benefits compliance, and the systems that keep HR running.