Two Labor Contractors Shut Down For Heat Violations
May 19, 2009 The California Department of Industrial Relations’ Cal/OSHA took action Saturday against two farm labor contractors and shut them down for violations of the heat illness prevention regulations designed to safeguard employees.
Jose Alfaro Labor Contractor and Estrada Farm Labor Services, both working in the Stockton/Farmington area, were shut down after investigators found that their provisions for shade and water were inadequate, and they had no heat illness prevention training and no emergency response procedures. The actions were taken as part of coordinated heat illness prevention inspections triggered by a heat wave this past weekend in northern California.
“Today we used the strongest tool available to us in protecting employees by shutting down these employers,” Cal/OSHA Chief Len Welsh said Saturday. “The hot sun with high temperatures can be life-threatening and with temperatures over 100 degrees today, employers must take the required steps to protect their workers.”
Investigators encountered both work crews Saturday outside Farmington, near the location of last year’s enforcement action that shut down Merced Farm Labor following the death of Maria Vasquez Jimenez. The Merced Farm Labor case was the first time Cal/OSHA used the Order to Prohibit Use (OPU) to shut down an employer in violation of the heat illness prevention standard. Three OPUs were issued in 2008 for similar violations. Three men were charged with involuntary manslaughter last month in the death of the pregnant 17-year-old field worker, who died of heat stroke two days after collapsing in a vineyard near Lodi.
In addition to the actions taken against the two contractors Saturday, Cal/OSHA also issued another OPU in southern California for violating the heat illness prevention regulations. Last Wednesday investigators shut down a work crew run by Hocier Rodriguez in the Coachella Valley, where workers were weeding okra under a sweltering 104° F sun with no shade, heat illness prevention plan or written emergency program.
“This year we have increased our effort to raise awareness of the importance of heat illness prevention,” said DIR Director John C. Duncan. “We have now trained over 4,000 agricultural employers across the state and have increased our enforcement even more than the unprecedented levels from last year.”
So far this year Cal/OSHA has conducted over 850 heat inspections and has issued more than 250 citations for violations of the heat illness prevention standards. In 2008, 2,584 inspections were conducted with 1,134 citations issued.
Heat illness prevention outreach to employees has also increased with the aid of community and employee advocate partners. Partnerships with Central Valley Catholic Diocese, the Department of Education’s Migrant Education Program, and California Rural Legal Assistance among others are in full swing this year. California became the first state in the nation to develop a safety and health regulation addressing heat illness in 2005. Cal/OSHA issued permanent heat illness prevention regulations to protect outdoor workers in 2006.
For more information on heat illness prevention and training materials, visit the Cal/OSHA Web site at www.dir.ca.gov/heatillness.
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