New Proposition 65 Requirements to Take Effect on August 2018 in California

On August 28, 2016, the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) adopted amendments to Proposition 65 warning regulations that will require dental offices to modify their Proposition 65 warning(s) to patients. Proposition 65, also known as the California Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, requires the Governor to publish a list of chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer or reproductive harm and businesses to provide a “clear and reasonable warning” prior to exposing any person to a listed chemical.

Currently under Proposition 65, California dentists with ten or more employees must prominently post up to three notice signs in their offices alerting individuals to the potential exposure to chemicals used by that office – one for restorative materials, one for nitrous oxide, and one for bisphenol A. All three signs can be downloaded from OSHA Review’s website.

Under the new regulations, dental offices will have to comply with one of the following by August 30, 2018:

• Post one sign at all public points of entry to the dental office or in each location within the office where an exposure is reasonably likely to occur. The notice or sign must be no smaller than 5 by 5 inches and printed in no smaller than 20-point type.

• Provide a warning with the required language with or in an informed consent form signed by the patient prior to exposure.

The new warning

sign, with the new language, can be downloaded from OSHA Review’s website.

The new requirements take effect on August 30, 2018. In the interim, dental offices have the option of complying with existing regulations by posting three separate signs, or may choose to comply with the newly amended regulations by posting one sign or by providing the warning in an informed consent document with a patient’s signature.

Since 1992, OSHA Review, Inc. has provided dental professionals with comprehensive programs to support regulatory compliance and infection control. We are a registered continuing education provider in the state of California, specializing in Dental Practice Act, infection control, and OSHA training.