SAN FRANCISCO – At 5:30 a.m. on August 2, under the direction of Labor Commissioner Victoria Bradshaw, members of the latest TIPP (Targeted Industries Partnership Program) sweep descended on an El Monte clothing factory in which more than 60 Thai immigrants were imprisoned in a barred apartment complex, behind an electric gate topped with barbed …
SAN FRANCISCO – On August 8 the Senate Transportation Committee held a hearing on the Los Angeles Metro Rail project. Among those invited to testify were Cliff Sammons and Joe Doyle of Cal-OSHA’s Mining and Tunneling Unit in Van Nuys. (Details next week.) The Assembly Labor Committee has tentatively set AB 50 (Pringle and R. …
SAN FRANCISCO – Transportation accidents and homicides accounted for over a third of the work-related deaths in the U.S. that occurred during 1994. Highway deaths made up to 20% of the 6,588 fatal work injuries according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Slightly over half of highway fatality victims were driving or riding …
SAN FRANCISCO – Elizabeth Arioto, B. T. Mancini Company’s safety director, has been named Safety Professional of the Year by Associated General Contractors of California. Arioto is currently vice-chair of the AGCC’s safety, health and environment committee. She has served on Cal-OSHA advisory committees on rebar caps, multi-employer job site enforcement and the ergonomics task …
SAN FRANCISCO – A New Jersey appeal court has held that an engineering design contractor who knew a construction laborer was down in an unshored trench could be liable for the worker’s death even though it did not have safety responsibility for the job. The case is Carvalho v. Toll Bros. & Developers, N.J. Sup. …
SAN DIEGO – Here is an account, drawn from newspapers, of how six California workers died in the month of July. FATAL CRANE ACCIDENT: On July 11, Gene Hooker, 60, who was operating a crane on the Harbor Freeway in Los Angeles, was thrown to the road 30 feet below and killed. Hooker had 35 …
SAN DIEGO – Franklin White, the chief executive officer of the MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority), fired SKK (tunnel contractors Shea-Kiewit-Kenny) on July 13 for performance he said was in violation of the terms of Contract B-251, “in bad faith and not consistent with applicable laws and regulations.” By letter, White told SKK to stop work …
SAN FRANCISCO – In response to a CASPA (Complaint Against State Plan Administration) that WORKSAFE filed with Fed-OSHA, the Division of Occupational Safety and Health convened an advisory committee to discuss safety issues for employees of subcontractors at big construction sites. The July 26 meeting drew quite a crowd. Labor, management, consultants and lawyers were …