Dairy Owner Not Guilty in Confined-Space Deaths – Jury Blames Cal/OSHA

A Merced County jury has rejected involuntary manslaughter charges against the owner of a dairy where two workers died after being overcome by hydrogen sulfide fumes in a manure pit in 2001. The jury accepted the defense's argument that Cal/OSHA bore some responsibility for the deaths because it didn't aggressively enforce safety and health regulations in the industry until after the incidents.The acquittal stood in contrast to evidence that the dairy's owner, Patrick J. Faria, a volun