New California law requires naloxone in workplace first aid kits

Sacramento, CA — Naloxone hydrochloride or another Food and Drug Administration-approved opioid-reversal medication must be included in all workplace first aid kits in California no later than Dec. 1, 2028.

A.B. 1976, signed Sept. 27 by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), directs the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health to revise current regulations to incorporate the requirement and develop relative enforcement practices. Cal/OSHA must submit to the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board – an independent entity within the Department of Industrial Relations – a draft rulemaking proposal revising the current regulations before Dec. 1, 2027. The standards board then must consider for adoption the revisions before Dec. 1, 2028. 

In a press release, Assemblymember Matt Haney (D-San Francisco), the bill’s sponsor, claims the law will rapidly increase naloxone accessibility and is a necessary response to the increase of fentanyl – a synthetic opioid considered 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine – entering the state illegally.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, 7 out of 10 pills seized by the agency across the country contain a lethal dose of fentanyl.

“If fentanyl continues to be more accessible than naloxone, we’re going to keep seeing an increase in overdose deaths in our communities,” said Haney, chair of the State Assembly’s Fentanyl and Opioid Overdose Prevention Committee. “I’ve heard from hundreds of families whose loved ones would still be alive if naloxone had been onsite.”

In a statement, the National Safety Council commends California lawmakers for “taking proactive measures to make workplaces and communities across California safer.”

NSC adds, “We believe that this legislation will not only save lives but will also foster a culture of safety and support throughout the state.”