Cal-OSHA broadens probe of heat-stress deaths (after issuing a record fine against the employer)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/1108808.html

By Susan Ferriss - [e-mail]

Published 12:00 am PDT Friday, July 25, 2008
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A4

A day after issuing a record fine against the employer of a 17-year-old girl who died of heatstroke, California state officials released details of nine more possible heat-related deaths under investigation.

Since May, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has confirmed two deaths – a farmworker and an oil worker – due to heat stress on the job.

Cal-OSHA is looking into eight other deaths. Among them, the July 19 death of Edward Black, a Sacramento-area construction employee who fell ill July 11, said Cal-OSHA spokesman Dean Fryer. Black, 55, died at San Juan Mercy Medical Center.

The Sacramento County Coroner's Office has a temporary death certificate listing Black's possible cause of death as multi-organ failure due to heatstroke.

On Wednesday, Cal-OSHA levied $262,700 in fines against Merced Farm Labor, a Central Valley contractor, for willful violations of heat-stress safety laws. One of its workers, María Isavel Vásquez Jiménez, died May 16, two days after collapsing in a vineyard.

Cal-OSHA probes on-the-job deaths to check if employers complied with laws, Fryer said.

The other confirmed victim of heatstroke is Julius Askew, 27, an oil worker who died May 16 after he was found unconscious at work in the Bakersfield area.

FULL story at link.