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CPOPE

04-09-2009, 08:54 PM

Utility will contest CAL/OSHA citations and fines

April 7, 2009 — The Lassen Municipal Utility District plans to contest five minor violations recently issued by the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Dave Fulce, LMUD’s electrical operations manager, advised the board of directors about the violations at its Tuesday, March 31 meeting. He characterized the reason for the violations as “bookkeeping errors.”

Fulce said an investigator from CAL/OSHA visited the district back in September requesting documents and interviewed several employees. He said the CAL/OSHA investigator returned in mid-March and interviewed more employees.

“They gave us five citations,” Fulce said. “Four of those citations were involving hazardous waste and employee records. One of those citations was for heat elements. We didn’t have any written program in place. We had a draft in place, but it was not approved.”

When Director Jay Dow asked about the ramifications of the citations, Fulce said CAL/OSHA had fined the district $1,890.

Fulce said the district was investigating the charges and would request “an informal hearing” with CAL/OSHA director to “contest these charges.” He said the district would seek a reduction or waiver of the fines at the informal hearing.

“With the way they read here,” Fulce said, “we’ve been doing most of the stuff she’s (the CAL/OSHA investigator) citing LMUD for, but she’s not looking at the proper documents. We printed off as much as we could possibly print off figuring this is what she was asking for. We have a lot of documents that can prove a lot of the things she said were violations” were not violations.

Fulce said he would provide the board with copies of the citations at a later date so the board members would have an opportunity to read them and ask questions.

“We just wanted to give you a heads up on the information that we did receive this,” said Ray Luhring, LMUD’s general manager. “Dave and I are looking into each one of these individually, and Dave will be putting together a summary of each one for you guys in a week or two.”

He said the fine for each violation could be a maximum of $2,000, but the amount of the fine was lowered because these were the first CAL/OSHA violations filed against the district and the district cooperated with the investigation.

In addition to the fines, Fulce said the district also received “three informal memos.” He said if the district did not follow the advice contained in the memos, it could face additional fines as well.

“These are easy to correct?” Dow asked.

“Yes,” Fulce replied. “It’s more of a record-keeping violation.”

“Was this investigation part of a routine audit, or was it based on an allegation?” asked Director Jay Dow.

“It was based on an allegation,” Fulce said.

“So do these findings substantiate this allegation?” Dow asked. “I don’t know what the allegation was.”

“The inspection was generally pointed at hazardous waste,” Fulce said.

The CAL/OSHA citation
Erika Monterroza, a  public information officer  with the California department of industrial relations, said the investigation into LMUD began in September and was concluded on March 24.

The five violations against LMUD are “general” violations contained in a single citation, according to documents provided by CAL/OSHA.

Fulce said general violations are the lowest level violations issued by the state agency.

Monterroza said she couldn’t provide any information regarding an allegation that may or may not have been filed against LMUD because that information is confidential.

According to the CAL/OSHA documents, state law “prohibits discrimination by an employer against an employee for filing a complaint or exercising any rights under Labor Code Section 6310 or 6311.”

Citation 1, Item 1
The first violation, according to CAL/OSHA documents, involved access to employee exposure and medical records.

According to the violation, “At Lassen Municipal Utility District in Susanville, the employer conducted soil sampling at various substations for polychlorobiphenyls analysis. Some employees worked in these areas and were potentially exposed to PCBs. At the time of the inspection, the employer did not inform employees of the following: the existence, location and availability of these exposure records; the person responsible for maintaining and providing access to these records; or the employee’s right of access to these records.”

The district has until Monday, April 27 to abate the violation. The amount of the fine is $305.

Citation 1, Item 2
The second violation involved heat illness prevention training.

According to the CAL/OSHA documents, “employees worked as foremen, linemen, metermen, troublemen, laborers and hazardous waste coordinators. Normal job operations required employees to work outside. At the time of inspection, the employer did not have a written heat illness prevention program as required.”

The violation must be abated by Monday, April 27. The amount of the fine is $305.

Citation 1, Item 3
The third violation involved hazardous waste operations and emergency response.

According to the CAL/OSHA documents, “an employee worked as a hazardous waste coordinator whose essential job functions included performing hazardous waste removal and clean up of hazardous waste spills. At the time of the inspection, the employer did not have a medical surveillance program implemented as required.”

The violation must be abated by Monday, April 27. The amount of the fine was $410.

Citation 1, Item 4
The fourth violation involved hazardous waste operations and emergency response.

According to the CAL/OSHA documents, “an employee worked as a hazardous waste coordinator whose essential job function included performing hazardous waste removal and clean up of hazardous waste spills. At the time of the inspection, the employer did have an emergency response plan title Spill Clean-Up Plan, but the plan did not contain all the provisions” required by law.

The violation must be abated by Monday, April 27. The amount of the fine was $410.

Citation 1, Item 5
The fifth violation involved hazardous waste operations and emergency response.

According to the CAL/OSHA documents, “an employee worked as a hazardous waste coordinator whose essential job functions included performing hazardous waste removal and clean up of hazardous waste spills. The employee initially received 24 hours of HAZWOPER training. However, at the time of the inspection, the employer had not provided the employee with sufficient annual refresher training as required.”

The violation must be abated by Monday, April 27. The amount of the fine is $410.