A maintenance supervisor for a vineyard management company who disabled the “dead man’s switch” on several tractors has been sentenced to county jail in a 2011 case in which a worker was killed as a result of the supervisor’s action. In a plea agreement with the Sonoma County District Attorney’s office, James Poole, 61, was …
Cal/OSHA inspections at Los Angeles-area garment businesses resulted in stop-work orders issued to two employers on Jan. 16 because of alleged serious hazards to workers. As part of inspections by the Labor Enforcement Task Force (LETF), the Division of Occupational Safety and Health issued Orders Prohibiting Use (OPUs) to Vinh Loi, Inc., and Kinary, Inc., …
A syphilis outbreak in Los Angeles last year that included at least two adult film performers triggered an investigation by California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH), which has cited a production company for several serious violations of safety requirements. Cal/OSHA initiated its investigation of Streamray Studios, Inc., of Chatsworth after a referral from …
Cal/OSHA will take the so-called “safe tucking” issue to Los Angeles on March 19 for an advisory meeting on potential protections for hotel housekeepers. The committee met last October to provide the Division of Occupational Safety and Health with information on whether or not it should proceed with rulemaking on a petition by the UniteHere …
California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health is investigating a Jan. 17 workplace fatality at Los Angeles car wash. The incident at Western and Fourth Car Wash occurred when an employee drove a van out of the car wash tunnel. He accelerated, ran over the victim, then hit another car. The injured worker was taken …
Gov. Jerry Brown announces that Ed Lowry, public member of the Cal/OSH Appeals Board, has been reappointed to the board to a new term. Lowry, 61, has been a member of the three-person board since April 2011, when he was named to replace Vicky Marti, a late-term Arnold Schwarzenegger appointee whose appointment was rescinded when …
California Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg has reappointed Kristen L. Schwenkmeyer and Angie S. Wei to the Commission of Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation, which examines health and safety and workers’ comp systems in the Golden State. Both are longtime commissioners Schwenkmeyer, from Hermosa Beach, is president of Gordon & Schwenkmeyer, a telemarketing …
The California Farm Labor Contractor Association is hosting two days of extensive training for agricultural supervisors and workers on Jan. 30 and 31 at the Stockton Agricultural Center. The conference features 18 trainers and 30 sessions – in Spanish only. Topics for supervisors range from safety and conflict management, sexual harassment prevention and labor law …