9 Examples of Cal/OSHA Complaints, Whistleblower Advisory

While we recommend all employees experiencing unsafe and unhealthful work environments complain to OSHA about their unsafe or unhealthy working conditions, we are concerned whether OSHA will investigate or properly investigate because of their drastic understaffing problems. This week a non-profit whistleblower group in Washington announced it would be complaining to the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration that CAL/OSHA’s lack of staffing does not allow the agency to meet minimal standards for enforcing workplace safety.

At the end of 2013, CAL/OSHA had only 170 inspectors. CAL/OSHA is the California organization who is supposed to investigate workplace safety and health complaints throughout the state.

Examples of Cal/OSHA complaints our firm has handled include:

1. An Inglewood nurse complained to OSHA the nursing home lacked an adequate supply of gloves
2. A Bakersfield tire installer complained about the lack of safety in his workplace
3. A Woodland Hills nurse/health facility director complained of water leakage that led to mold and employee workers compensation claims in the workplace
4. A Los Angeles security officer complained a deserted factory she patrolled randomly expelled toxic fumes
5. A Sierra Madre electrician complained about an unsafe construction site
6. A San Pedro warehouse worker complained about extensive dust and a lack of ventilation in his warehouse
7. A Whittier machinist complained about a lack of ventilation in his work area
8. A Van Nuys body shop worker complained about the use of illegal paints
9. A Long Beach oil refinery worker complained of a lack of safety equipment

CAL/OSHA is obligated to investigate a variety of workplace health and safety issues. Investigations take time. There is no way they can properly investigate California workplace safety with 170 investigators statewide. Notwithstanding, CAL/OSHA’s ratio of employees in the workplace to their investigators is only 40% less than the ratio in states where the federal version of OSHA presides over safety complaints because those states lack their own state version of OSHA.

CAL/OSHA acknowledges its staffing problems prevent them from responding to workplace safety problems in the time frame they would like to respond. The number of dangerous worksites CAL/OSHA inspects each year has dropped more than 20% since 1992-2002. However, out of fewer than 8,000 workplaces CAL/OSHA inspects each year, they still find approximately 15,000 violations a year. This means there are multiple violations found during each CAL/OSHA inspection. Out of the 8,000 workplace violations they find each year, 2,700 of them are labeled, “Serious.”

Workplace safety is a serious issue in California. If you have work issues because of an unsafe workplace, were injured due to an unsafe workplace condition, or fired because you complained about unsafe working conditions regardless of whether you complained to CAL/OSHA you should contact our office. CAL/OSHA’s lack of staff makes it all the more important that you have an employee rights lawyer to advise you how to complain about workplace safety and to sue your employer if need be.

In the very recent past we have achieved the following recent results in cases involving workplace safety issues some of which our clients complained to CAL/OSHA about:

• $127,500 for the driver of a delivery van that was unsafe
• $125,000 for an employee who complained about unsafe chemicals
• $110,000 for a healthcare professional who complained about mold in the workplace