A St. Helena recycling worker was killed when he slipped and fell under the tires of a garbage truck.

Fatal workplace accident: A recycling worker was killed Tuesday when he tripped and  fell under the tires of a garbage truck at the St. Helena plant.

•  A recycling truck driver was checking in for work and somehow fell as he was leaving the office.

•  The man fell in front of the rear wheels of a big-rig garbage truck that was passing by at about 3 mph. 

•   The truck ran over the man and he died at the scene.

•   Cal/OSHA is investigating the workplace fatality.

The tragic accident occurred at about 3:45 a.m. at the Upper Valley Disposal Service plant in St. Helena, according to a report in the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat.

California Highway Patrol Officer Garret Ray said the victim, 44-year-old Gabriel Diaz-Cervantes of Calistoga, had just checked in for work when the accident happened.

One of his co-workers, 58-year-old Alan McClure of Napa, was driving a 1984 Freightliner garbage truck and trailer past the front of the office at about 3 mph when Diaz-Cervantes stepped out of the building.

Diaz-Cervantes somehow  fell in front of the rear wheels of the garbage truck and was run over. He died at the scene.

“It was a terrible accident,” Ray told the Press-Democrat. “All these guys work together.” Ray said there were no witnesses to see exactly how the victim fell. Alcohol was not a factor in the accident, the officer said.

Cal/OSHA is investigating the workplace fatality.

St. Helena Workplace Accident Lawyers

One man was killed and other suffered a leg amputation in a work equipment accident in Fontana. (Photo: Riverside Press-Enterprise)

Work equipment accident: The Fontana plant where one worker was killed and another man’s leg was amputated by a snapped cable on Monday was already under investigation for an accident in August, when another worker lost his leg, Cal/OSHA officials said Tuesday.

•   Two men were working in a plant where high-tension cable was being spooled when one of the cables snapped and struck them.

•   One of the men was struck in the head. He died at the scene. The other man lost his leg.

•   Cal/OSHA said the plant already was being investigated for an August accident in which another worker lost his leg.

The fatal accident occurred Monday at Oldcastle Precast plant on Hemlock Avenue, according to a report in the Riverside Press-Enterprise.

San Bernardino County Fire Captain Tony Siciliano, who responded to the accident scene, said the company makes large concrete pillars with high-tension cables for support.

One of the cables snapped as it was being wrapped on an industrial-size spool using a tension device. The cable struck 40-year-old Fontana resident Fernando Quezada in the head, police Sgt. Robert Morris said. He died at the scene. Plant spokespersons said Quezada, whose brother was at the scene, was a married father of two children.

Another man in his early 20s, whose identity was withheld, also was struck by the snapped cable. He suffered a leg amputation as a result of the injury, Cal/OSHA spokesman Greg Siggins said.

Siggins later told the Press-Enterprise that the Oldcastle Precast plant where the accident occurred was already under investigation for an accident on August 8, when a concrete pillar rolled off a stack and struck a worker.  That man also lost his leg, Siggins said.

No stop-work order was issued following that accident. Siggins said the continuing investigation could include interviewing workers, looking at whether proper safeguards were in place, and making sure the equipment was being operated according to the manufacturer’s manual.

Fontana Work Equipment Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented workplace accident victims and their families for more than 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

Workplace accident: An employee slipped and spilled sulfuric acid on his skin at Optiforms in Temecula.

An employee was airlifted to a burn unit Wednesday after he slipped and fell into a sulfuric acid spill at the Optiforms plant in Temecula.

•   An employee at an electroform manufacturing plant dropped a jar of sulfuric acid and then slipped and fell in the corrosive liquid.

•   He suffered second-degree burns on at least 18 percent of his body and was airlifted to a burn unit.

•   Twenty employees were evacuated while hazmat teams cleaned the spill.

•   Cal/OSHA is investigating the accident.

The workplace accident occurred shortly before 10:30 a.m. at 42310 Winchester Road, according to a report in the Riverside Press-Enterprise.

Riverside County Fire Department spokeswoman Melody Hendrickson said the employee — a 44-year-old electroforming manager, whose name was not released – was carrying two glass jars of sulfuric acid when he dropped them on the floor. The jars shattered and spilled the acid onto the floor, and the employee slipped and fell into the corrosive liquid.

The injured employee suffered second-degree burns on 18 percent of his body, mostly on his shoulder and back, Hendrickson told the Temecula Patch news site. He was also badly burnt on his right hand by the shattered glass.  He was airlifted by helicopter to the burn unit at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton.

The California Emergency Management Agency said about 20 employees were evacuated from the receiving area and the machine shop because of the sulfuric acid spill. Environmental Health and Riverside County Fire Hazmat teams responded to the scene to clean the area.

Three fire engines, one helicopter, and 11 firefighters responded to the scene. According to the accident report, about one gallon of sulfuric acid was spilled.

Cal/OSHA is investigating the accident.

Optiforms manufactures electroformed products and optical coatings, according the company website.

Dangers of Sulfuric Acid

Sulfuric acid, the largest-volume industrial chemical produced in the world, is very useful but also can be extremely dangerous. According to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), exposure to sulfuric acid can cause:

• eye, nose, and throat irritation (cough, sore throat)
• shortness of breath, pulmonary edema
• conjunctivitis
• stomatitis
• tracheobronchitis
• dental erosion, skin, eye pain and burns
• dermatitis, and
• blisters.

At a high exposure level, it also has been found to cause cancer in some people.

Temecula Workplace Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented workplace accident victims for 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

A worker fell into a reactor pool at San Onofre nuclear power plant last week. (Photo: RT News)

Workplace accident: A worker at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station  fell into a reactor pool last week, Southern California Edison officials said Friday.

The incident occurred just a few days before the power plant was shut down due to a leak in one of the reactors.

•    A contract worker at the San Onofre nuclear power plant fell into a reactor pool full of water that circulates through the nuclear reactor core.

•    Co-workers pulled him to safety. He was decontaminated and tested for radiation. 

•    Officials said the worker was not exposed to a dangerous dose of radiation.

The worker, who is not a plant employee but works for a private contractor, was assigned to replace the vessel head in the nuclear power plant’s Unit 2 reactor pool, officials told the North County Times.

Southern California Edison spokesman Gil Alexander said the worker, whose name was not released, had leaned over to pick up a flashlight when he “momentarily lost his balance” and fell into the pool on January 27.

“He was wearing all of the appropriate safety equipment, including a life preserver vest,” Alexander said.

The water inside the reactor pool is 23-foot-deep. It circulates through the nuclear reactor core. Co-workers pulled the victim to safety, according to a CBS News report.

The highly radioactive uranium fuel that normally sits at the bottom of the pool had been removed earlier, but stray fuel particles could have been floating in the water, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) spokesman Victor Dricks said.

The victim was decontaminated and then tested to determine if he may have swallowed any of the radioactive particles. These initial tests showed no significant radiation exposure, Alexander said.

Alexander said the tests showed that the worker received 5 millirem of radiation as a result of the fall. That is 1 millirem more than the exposure from a chest X-ray, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Federal government safety rules for nuclear workers limit exposure to less than 5,000 millirems per year .

The worker who fell into the reactor pool was back on the job the same day, Alexander said. Edison officials continued to monitor him for several days but said there were no signs of a harmful dose of radiation.

One reactor at the San Onofre plant was shut down Tuesday night  after radioactive gas escaped from a pipe in a building located next to the reactor.  A second reactor was shut down for maintenance.

Nuclear regulation officials said Thursday that extensive wear had been found on relatively news tubes inside a unit at the San Onofre nuclear plant, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. Officials don’t yet know what it causing the so much wear on the tubes.

Environmental safety groups say problems with the aging plant point to the need to shift to clean-energy alternatives like energy efficiency and renewable power.

San Onofre Workplace Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented workplace accident victims and their families for 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

Workplace fatality: A longshoreman was crushed to death by a falling container at the Port of Long Beach. (Photo: Los Angeles Times)

A longshoreman was killed on the job Thursday night when he was crushed by a 40-foot shipping container that fell on top of him at the Port of Long Beach.

•   A crew of longshoremen were moving cargo containers on a ship from a dockside crane when a larger, eight-ton container fell from the top of a 200 foot stack.

•   The crew ran for cover, but the crew boss was unable to escape in time. The huge container fell on top of him on the ship’s deck.

•   The man was trapped under the heavy container and crushed. He died at the scene.

•   State and federal safety agencies are investigating the accident.

The fatal accident occurred shortly before 7 p.m., according to a report in the Long Beach Press-Telegram.

California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal/OSHA) spokesperson Patricia Ortiz said 47-year-old Steven Nicholas Saggiani was working with a crew loading and unloading cargo containers from a ship when the saccident occurred. The ship was docked at the Cosco Terminal on Pier J in the Port of Long Beach.

Saggiani, the crew boss, was aboard the ship, which was loaded with 40-foot cargo containers. The containers were stacked in two rows, six containers high. There were two 20-foot containers in front of the two rows of 40-foot containers. The crew was using a crane on the dock to unload the two 20-foot containers when one of the 40-foot containers fell off of a stack.

“The workers saw one of the large containers begin to twist and basically saw it fall and tumble,” Ortiz said.

The container plummeted 200 feet from the top of one of the high stacks to the deck of the ship. The crew ran for cover.  Saggiani ran after them, but was unable to escape in time. The eight-ton container fell on top of him and crushed him. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

What caused the container to become unstable is not yet known. Both state and federal safety agencies are investigating the accident, Ortiz said. Authorities were questioning employees, employers, and other witnesses. The probe is expected to take two to four months.

Long Beach Workplace Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented workplace accident victims and their families for 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

Cal/OSHA cited two labor contractors for violating heat illness prevention standards.

The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) announced Wednesday that it has cited two farm labor contractors for violating heat illness prevention standards in 2011. One of the violations resulted in a fatality.

•   After two workplace incidents of heat illness in July — one of them fatal — Cal/OSHA investigated two farm labor contractors. 

•   Both were cited for violating state heat illness prevention standards.

•   One case involved a 47-year-old man who collapsed in a cantaloupe field in 102-degree heat. He died.

•   The other case involved a 16-year-old boy who collapsed in 103-degree heat but later recovered. 

•   California was the first state in the country to adopt heat illness regulations to protect farm workers, in 2005.

The two companies cited by the workplace safety agency were AgPrime Corporation of Los Banos and C. Clunn Consulting of Holtville, according to a report in the Bakersfield Californian. Both incidents occurred in July.

Cal/OSHA cited C. Clunn Consulting for the death of 47-year-old Romero Vasquez, who was loading 40-pound boxes of cantaloupe at a farm in Blythe when he collapsed in 102-degree heat. He was taken to a hospital, where he died.

C. Clunn was fined $74,125. Cal/OSHA officials said the company violated state regulations by failing to provide employees or supervisors with training on how to identify and treat symptoms of heat illness, according to a CBS News report. Investigators said the company did not have proper emergency medical procedures in place.

“Heat illness is totally preventable and should not occur if proper procedures are followed.,” Cal/OSHA chief Ellen Widess said in a statement. “We take any heat-related incident seriously and enforce our standard to the fullest extent possible.”

California’s heat illness prevention standards were introduced in 2005 to protect the state’s 450,000 seasonal farm workers. The regulations were the first of their type in the nation.

AgPrime Corporation was cited and fined $61,425 over an incident in which a a 16-year-old boy became ill while picking bell peppers with his guardians in 105-degree heat. A supervisor was made aware that the boy was sick, but did not get medical help for him. The boy later recovered.

Cal/OSHA investigators found that AgPrime did not provide adequate water, shade, rest breaks, or first aid kits at the work site. Futhermore, they did not train new employees or supervisors to identify and treat symptoms of heat illness. There were no procedures in place to call for medical help.

The Division of Labor Standards Enforcement also fined AgPrime for violating child labor laws.

California Workplace Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented workplace accident victims and their families for 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

Workplace accident: A 39-year-old farm worked died after being crushed by a tractor in Salinas. (Photo: KSBW)

A 39-year-old farm worker died in a workplace accident Wednesday when he was crushed between a tractor and a large metal harvester in a Salinas lettuce field. •   A farm worker was picking lettuce when he was struck by a tractor. •   The tractor pinned the worker between the vehicle and a large harvesting machine.  •   The worker was crushed to death. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The fatal accident occurred at about 10:30 a.m., according to a KSBW News report. Sheriff’s department coroner Dan Robison said Eliseo Garcia Gutierrez — who lived and worked in either Salinas or Arizona, depending on the crop season — was working in a lettuce field located at 1777 Old Stage Road. Gutierrez was picking lettuce and placing it on a conveyor belt that runs across a large metal crop harvester when a tractor, driven by another farm worker, struck him. He was crushed between the tractor and the harvester. The details of the accident were not clear, but California Highway Patrol officer Robert Lehman said a large crew was working at the time and several of them witnessed the fatal accident. Both the CHP and the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) are investigating the accident. Lehman said he did not know who owned the agricultural field. Agricultural Injury Statistics Agriculture is one of the most hazardous industries in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control.Every day, almost 250 agricultural workers lose time from work due to in-the-job injuries. Five percent of those injuries result in permanent impairment. In 2009,  440 farm workers died from work-related injuries. Of those fatalities, more than 25 percent were under age 20. The most common farming accident fatalities are due to tractor rollovers, which account for about 90 deaths every year. The most common types of non-fatal injuries are sprains, strains, and torn ligaments (22 percent), fractures (15 percent), and cuts (13 percent).

Salinas Farming Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorneyClifford Blackman, have successfully represented workplace accident victims and their families for 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

Cal/OSHA cited Baxter Healthcare for “deliberate and willful” failure to ensure worker safety.

California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) cited Baxter Bioscience of Los Angeles for the death of one employee and serious injury to two others in January.

•   A bioscience company employee collapsed after going into a tank to clean it. A supervisor sent in two coworkers to rescue him, but they collapsed too.

•   The first man died. The other two were critically injured. One of them is still hospitalized after more than six months.

•   Cal/OSHA concluded that the company willfully and deliberately violates safety laws that put all three men in danger.

The fatal workplace accident occurred on January 21, according to a California Watchdog report.

Cal/OSHA investigators said 33-year-old technician Henry Astilla collapsed after entering a 7-by-7-foot tank that used nitrogen to separate blood protein from plasma. Air in the tank had been displaced by the nitrogen and there was not enough oxygen to survive.

Two of Astilla’s coworkers went into the tank to rescue him, but they also collapsed. Astilla died at the scene. One of the coworkers is still hospitalized, more than seven months after the accident.

Cal/OSHA discovered that supervisors had ordered the two coworkers to go into the tank to help Astilla, but did not test the atmosphere of the tank beforehand or providing proper equipment necessary for a safe rescue.

Read more about this workplace accident: Medical Worker Dies From Toxic Fumes

The workplace safety agency issueed 11 citations this week against the pharmaceutical research company and fined it $371,250. Four of the fines — totaling $280,000 — were for “deliberate and willful” failure to ensure worker safety.

Willful citations are issued when an employer is aware of a safety law and intentionally violates it anyway, or when an employer knows that a dangerous condition exists and makes no reasonable effort to eliminate the hazard.

“The hazards of working in confined spaces are well documented and this is a classic example of the kind of injury that occurs when employers fail to adequately protect their employees,” said Cal/OSHA chief Ellen Widess said Thursday. “When confined space operations are not properly planned, it is unfortunately common for other employees to be injured or killed while attempting impromptu rescue of the initial victim.”

The multinational pharmaceutical company, which operates the Los Angeles plant, makes drugs and other products for patients with bleeding disorders and immune deficiencies. Spokeswoman Elaine Salewske said the company was cooperating with authorities and would take corrective steps.

“This tragic accident was an isolated event,” Salewske said.

Cal/OSHA acting director Christine Baker, sharply criticized the company and said it deliberately put its employees in danger.

“We will not tolerate employers who intentionally sacrifice the safety of their workers,” Baker said.

Los Angeles Wrongful Death Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented families in wrongful death cases for more than 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.