Vial

The Director of the California Department of Industrial Relations (hereinafter Director) and the Division of Industrial Safety (hereinafter Division) appeal from an order of the superior court denying their petition for writ of mandate. The question is whether a citation issued by the Division more than two months after one of its representatives inspected the site of a fatal, work-related accident, was *999 issued with “reasonable promptness,” within the contemplation of section 6317 1 of the California Labor Code.

Section 6317 was enacted as part of the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973 3 (hereinafter Cal/OSHA), a statutory scheme avowedly created “for the purpose of assuring safe and healthful working conditions for all California working men and women. . . .” 4 It came in response to earlier federal legislation 5 (hereinafter Fed/OSHA) covering the same subject matter but suggesting that states adopt “state occupational safety and health plans” 6 and thereby assume primary *1000 jurisdiction within their borders over safety and health matters at the workplace.

The pertinent facts, as set forth in the findings of the trial court, are as…