Thursday, Jul. 24, 2008

Worker's death costs Merced Farm Labor $263K; biggest farming fine ever

FRESNO -- The company that hired a pregnant teen who died of heat stroke this spring after working in a San Joaquin County vineyard was hit Wednesday with the highest fine ever issued to a California farming operation.

The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health fined Atwater-based Merced Farm Labor $262,700 on Wednesday afternoon for violating eight workplace safety requirements.

State authorities believe 17-year-old Maria Isabel Vas-quez Jimenez died May 14 because her supervisors denied her access to shade and water as she pruned white wine grapes near Farmington for more than nine hours in nearly triple-digit heat.

"There was virtually a complete absence of shade or water, two of the very few tools that employers and employees have to fight the heat," said Len Welsh, chief of the division known as Cal-OSHA. "It's just too bad we can't undo the consequences of those violations."

Inspectors found the farm labor contractor deliberately neglected to train workers and managers on how to stay safe while working in the heat and willfully skirted preparing for a medical emergency.

The firm's attorney, James Gumberg, did not return a call seeking comment.

Labor Commissioner Angela Bradstreet is in the process of revoking the contractor's license.

On June 12, state labor officials shut down Merced Farm Labor, accusing it of failing to train employees to cope with heat -- even after the teen's death -- and for having falsely claimed it had no outstanding labor violations. In 2006, the labor contractor was fined for failing to have a written heat-stress prevention plan and for not training employees.

Witnesses to the incident told state labor inspectors the teenager worked more than nine hours without shade and was too intimidated to take sufficient water breaks when it was 95 or hotter.

Witnesses said she was not taken to a medical center for more than 90 minutes after she collapsed.

A county coroner's report released Wednesday confirmed that the teen died of job- related heat stroke. At the time of her death, doctors discovered that Vasquez Jimenez was two months pregnant.