Source: Free Speech Coalition (FSC)
By: Company Press Release
(CANOGA PARK, CA) — Free Speech Coalition (FSC) will attend a CalOSHA Advisory Meeting with a group of industry representatives, to discuss bloodborne pathogen regulations for the adult industry.
The meeting will be held in a public forum format. The scheduled date of the meeting is Tuesday, June 29, from 10am – 3:30pm, and will be held at the Caltrans Building, 100 S. Main St., Room 1040A, Los Angeles, 90012.
In March, the CalOSHA Board of Directors approved two advisory meetings in order to hear commentary from adult industry stakeholders and other interested parties. Subsequent to the meeting on June 29, the second advisory meeting is anticipated to be held in early October, at a Bay Area location.
After the meetings are held, the issue of bloodborne pathogen regulations will be brought before the CalOSHA Board of Directors, most likely sometime in 2011.
The meetings follow an ongoing campaign waged by HIV advocacy organization AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) to pressure local and state agencies to enforce bloodborne pathogen regulations, including mandatory condom use, on adult production sets.
Since June 2009, AHF has filed numerous complaints against adult production companies in California and Florida for alleged workplace safety violations. The organization also filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Department of Public Health, alleging that the county agency was negligent in not enforcing CalOSHA regulations on adult production sets; the suit was dismissed in LA Superior Court, in December, but has since been appealed by AHF. Most recently, AHF filed complaints with the California Labor Board against nine adult talent agencies.
The various complaints, as well as several protest demonstrations staged by AHF, have received widespread coverage by mainstream news media.
”We expect AHF and the Pink Cross Foundation to be at the meeting with their usual theatrical antics,” FSC Executive Director Diane Duke said. ”FSC has organized a group of professional representatives from throughout the industry to speak as the clear voice of reason in this debate.”
”FSC is working strategically on a number of fronts to make sure that the stakeholders – adult industry producers, performers and set workers – are able to be heard above the noise of these anti-adult industry organizations and their political agendas,” Duke added.
In addition to attending the meetings, FSC is working with industry members to develop a petition voicing performer’s concerns over any mandatory condom regulation. FSC also has developed a ”FSC Health & Safety Manual” for adult businesses; the exclusive publication contains information about basic CalOSHA compliance and is available to FSC members at no charge.
For more information on CalOSHA Advisory Committee meetings, or on how to become involved with FSC, contact (818) 348-9373 or diane@freespeechcoalition.com.
The Free Speech Coalition is the national trade organization to the adult entertainment industry. Its mission is to lead, protect and support the growth and well-being of the adult entertainment community.
