State shuts down two businesses, says they lacked heat protection

July 16, 2010 by Fred Hosier

Posted in: cost of safety, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, OSHA news, working in heat or cold

Two businesses in California were shut down by state officials who said outdoor workers were exposed to high heat without shade or water.

Cal/OSHA shut down Rheingans Farms and Greenfield, Inc., both near Winchester.

Officials say at Rheingans, temperatures were in the 90s with employees working in a field without access to shade. The employer had provided no water, didn’t have a required heat illness prevention program and made no provisions for how to respond if an employee became ill from the heat.

The state says Greenfield had no shade, no heat illness prevention program, no training and no emergency response procedures. The afternoon temperature in Greenfield’s farm was 98 degrees.

Both employers can’t restart their operations until they come into full compliance with California’s heat illness prevention standard.

Did California do the right thing by shutting down these businesses? Let us know what you think in the Comments Box below.

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Tags: business shut down, California, heat illness

Andrea

Here is an example of a heat stroke death that happened in California in 2008. Please Pledge.

http://action.ufw.org/page/s/MariaIsabel
http://safetynewsalert.com Susan

It disgusts me to read these stories about selfish, ignorant (or arrogant) employers. I agree that they should have both been fined. I’m sure the losses resulting from the operations being shut down will just be passed on to the consumers so management won’t have lost a thing.

On a hot day, I offer my gardner and mailman cold drinks and they have my shady front porch to use if they need a break. To me, it has to do with sensitivity and caring, something completely lacking in most employers these days. If an employee dies, they can simply buy another. No problem!!
CJ

Absolutely! This is a no brainer.
Linda

No water, shade, heat illness prevention program and no emergency response procedures. These farms are lucky they “only” got shut down. They could be looking at attempted manslaughter.
Andrea

I’m surprise there were no fines to these businesses since Cal/OSHA issued permanent heat illness prevention regulations to protect outdoor workers in 2006.
SafetyMan

Cal/OSHA did the right thing to shut down the companies. They were putting workers at risk in knowing violation of the law.