After a series of inspections at four mega-warehouses in Chino, Cal/OSHA's High-Hazard Unit has issued dozens of citations to National Distribution Centers and its temporary staffing agency, Tri-State Staffing. Almost half the citations are for alleged serious violations.

Between the two companies, the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) proposes more than $256,000 in penalties. The inspections, conducted late last summer at the NDC facilities, were triggered by formal complaints submitted to the agency on behalf of workers by the organizing campaign Warehouse Workers United (WWU).

Included in the citations is an allegation of an accident-related violation after a warehouse worker fell victim to heat illness and says he was denied proper medical care and required hospitalization.

Other serious allegations relate to fall protection on high-rise order pickers, unstable storage stacking, unguarded machinery, unlocked bailer and compactor controls, lack of forklift speed limits and emergency eyewash deficiencies.

The warehousing industry east of Los Angeles is the most important in the United States for the movement of goods imported from the Far East. Almost half of all U.S. imports end up in the giant warehouses after arriving in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The warehouses employ more than 100,000 workers, about half of them temporary workers employed by staffing agencies. WWU contends the warehouses are rife with safety hazards and when workers complain, they face retaliation.