California Code of Regulations
Title 8 - Industrial Relations
Division 1 - Department of Industrial Relations
Chapter 3.3 - Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board
Article 4 - Hearing
Section 376.2 - Evidence Rules
The hearing need not be conducted according to technical rules relating to evidence and witnesses. Any relevant evidence shall be admitted if it is the sort of evidence on which responsible persons are accustomed to rely in the conduct of serious affairs, regardless of the existence of any common law or statutory rule which might make improper the admission of such evidence over objection in civil actions. Hearsay evidence may be used for the purpose of supplementing or explaining other evidence but over timely objection shall not be sufficient in itself to support a finding unless it would be admissible over objection in civil actions. An objection to hearsay evidence is timely if made before submission of the case or raised in a petition for reconsideration. The rules of privilege shall be effective to the extent that they are otherwise required by statute to be recognized at the hearing and irrelevant evidence shall be excluded. The Appeals Board may exclude evidence if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the probability that its admission will necessitate undue consumption of time.
1. Amendment filed 6-23-97; operative 7-1-97 (Register 97, No. 26). This interim regulation is exempt from most of the procedural requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act (specifically, from Articles 5 and 6 of Chapter 3.5, Division 3, Title 2, Government Code) and from review by the Office of Administrative Law pursuant to Government Code sections 11400.20 and 11400.21 and will expire on December 31, 1998, unless earlier terminated or replaced by, or readopted as, permanent following the procedures of the Administrative Procedure Act.
2. Permanent adoption of amended section and NOTE filed 7-11-97; operative 7-11-97 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(d) (Register 97, No. 28).
Note: Authority cited: Sections 148.7, 149.5 and 6603(a), Labor Code. Reference: Section 11513, Government Code; and Sections 148.7, 149.5, 6603(a) and 6612, Labor Code.