Los Angeles Workers' Issues and Personal Injury Blog

The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health Department recently issued a fine exceeding $5,000 to the Los Angeles Police Department following an investigation into workplace safety at the department's Central Station facility. The agency says inspectors uncovered multiple health hazards that led to unusual workplace injuries. Some of the risks include rats, roaches, fleas, gnats, mosquitoes, grasshoppers and flies.

Of these, the rodents likely pose the most significant risk because exposure can cause infectious diseases such as typhoid fever. According to a Cal/OSHA spokesperson, the agency received reports of LAPD employees having to carry out cleaning tasks at homeless camps. Investigators found that these employees worked in extremely hazardous conditions, with the added risk of carrying the risks of infectious diseases to their families at home.

The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health is looking into a fatal on-the-job accident at a Sonoma County vineyard. This is said to be the first life lost to workplace injuries on any of the vineyards owned by Jackson Family Wines. A spokesperson for the company says the deceased worker had been an employee for approximately 25 years.

According to an incident report, the worker's daughter became concerned when her father failed to come home by 8 p.m. She went out looking for him and found him in the vineyard, trapped underneath an overturned ATV. He did not survive. The company says the 62-year-old man worked in the irrigation section of the vineyard and rode an all-terrain vehicle to inspect irrigation lines as part of his duties.

As online retailers surge and traditional brick-and-mortar stores continue to disappear, jobs in warehouses fulfilling online orders are becoming more abundant. In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that warehouse employment has grown by 90 percent since 2000.

Warehouse jobs generally pay well and they're growing at a much faster rate than the national average. But as workers migrate from retail positions to warehouses, the risks increase. Warehouses employ machinery, workers often handle heavy loads, noise levels are high and there are other potential hazards. All these combined pose a greater risk of injury to warehouse workers.

2018 proved to be one of California's worst wildfire seasons in its recorded history. Over 7,500 fires destroyed almost 1.7 million acres and thousands of structures, causing the deaths of more than 100 people. This gave rise to the introduction of a bill that aims to protect outdoor workers across the state from workplace injuries caused by harmful wildfire smoke.

Millions of outdoor workers need protection against the hazard of wildfire smoke that contains various gases and particles from burning buildings and vegetation. Many of the burning structures release lead, asbestos and other toxins. Inhalation of the toxic particles and chemicals that penetrate the lungs cause severe health problems.