Warehouse Worker Resource Center

Join Our List Donate

  • About Us
    • Events
    • Team
    • History
    • Partners
    • Jobs
  • Campaigns
    • Support Inland Empire Amazon Workers
    • Justice for Immigrants
    • Building a Better San Bernardino
  • Your Rights
  • Resources
    • Reports
    • News & Updates
  • Education
  • Español
Warehouse Worker Resource Center
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
Warehouse Worker Resource Center

Warehouse Worker Resource Center

Improving working conditions in the warehouse industry in Southern California

  • About Us
    • Events
    • Team
    • History
    • Partners
    • Jobs
  • Campaigns
    • Support Inland Empire Amazon Workers
    • Justice for Immigrants
    • Building a Better San Bernardino
  • Your Rights
  • Resources
    • Reports
    • News & Updates
  • Education
  • Español

Cal/OSHA

Action Alert: Raise Your Voice on Indoor Heat!

February 23, 2018 by dean

In 2016, WWRC, the California Federation of Labor, ILWU, Worksafe, and other allies supported SB 1167, mandating Cal/OSHA to establish the first indoor heat standard in the nation. After Governor Brown signed the law, Cal/OSHA has been working through a process to establish this standard.

The most recent draft of the language was released last week. WWRC is calling on all affected workers and organizations to write to Cal/OSHA to give your opinion on the language. This is likely our last opportunity for comment!

Our current concerns include:

  • The standard only allows for significant mitigation when the temperature is over 90 degrees Farenheit,  far higher than the temperature where workers are affected significantly by heat.
  • The standard allows for an exception where an indoor workplace can merely provide some access to the outdoors and keep the temperature within five degrees of the outdoor temperature- and be exempted from almost all the mitigations the standard calls for.
  • The standard exempts office and professional settings where the temperature is below 85 degrees, even though workers in office settings can be vulnerable to heat illness in those temperatures, especially janitorial and other workers doing heavier tasks. The standard fails to adjust mitigation for critical factors that increase heat illness risk, such as heavy clothing, heavy work activity, radiant heat exposure, and acclimatization.

We have until March 1 to send comments to Cal/OSHA. You can direct comment letters to  ANeidhardt

  • rs@dir.ca.gov with a copy to Thais Forneret tforneret@worksafe.org. 

If you would like more information on this issue, please contact WWRC Program Coordinator Veronica Alvarado at valvarado@warehouseworkers.org.

See the link below for the full text of the current draft.

Revised Option-B-Create-Standalone-Indoor-Standard[8664]

Filed Under: All Posts Tagged With: Cal/OSHA, CASE, Indoor Heat, Worksafe

Indoor Heat Ruling will Help Warehouse Workers Stay Cool

October 18, 2015 by dean

Four years ago, Domingo Blancas fell ill while working on a hot summer day in his warehouse, operated by National Distribution Centers, Inc. (aka NFI) in Chino, CA. He was hospitalized and had to have emergency surgery.  Cal/OSHA, which was already investigating the facility after a complaint from WWRC, cited NFI and the temp agency for refusing to have a plan to deal with indoor heat, a common problem in the many non-climate-controlled warehouses of Southern California.  This month, after a long legal fight sustained by Cal/OSHA, the WWRC, Worksafe and the Alexander Community Law Center, the California Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board upheld the citation, making a clear statement that warehouse employers must take the risk of indoor heat seriously.

IMG_1988

Today, warehouse workers at California Cartage in Wilmington face hot temperatures, indoors and out, through our extended California summer. The WWRC has been supporting California Cartage workers who filed a complaint with Cal/OSHA and have been educating Cal Cartage workers on their right to take breaks when the workplace is hot.   Unfortunately, warehouse workers need to fight and risk retaliation just to achieve such basic standards. WWRC will continue to work for safe warehouses and the right of workers to speak up without retaliation.

IMG_1992

Filed Under: All Posts, Blog Tagged With: Cal/OSHA, Indoor Heat, nfi industries

PHOTOS: No more #brokenbodies.

July 18, 2012 by dean

View the photos of workers delivering a Cal/OSHA complaint to end dangerous working conditions at critical Walmart-contracted warehouse.

Mira las fotos de los trabajadores de bodega entregando la queja que pusieron con Cal/OSHA para terminar las peligrosas condiciones de trabajo en una de las bodegas mas importantes sub-contratada por Walmart.

Filed Under: All Posts, Blog Tagged With: broken bodies, Cal/OSHA, health, health and safety, latinos, nfi crossdock, nfi warehouse, NLRB, OSHA, safety, walmart, walmart merchandise, walmart supply chain, warehouse, warehouse workers, workplace injuries

Copyright © 2023 · WWRC on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

  • About Us
  • Campaigns
  • Your Rights
  • Resources
  • Education
  • Español
News & Updates

Inland Empire Amazon Warehouse Workers Respond to Federal OSHA Citations

Ontario, Calif - The Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued new citations to Amazon for failing to keep warehouse workers safe. …

Read More

Safety Net for All Coalition Launches Campaign for to Expand Unemployment Benefits

Recent Storms Demonstrate Urgency for Worker Protections LOS ANGELES – As storms continue to batter California creating precarious employment for California workers, dozens of immigrant…

Read More

WWRC Testifies Before U.S. House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This morning, speakers who are part of the Athena coalition testified before the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections in a hearing to examine…

Read More

More News

Warehouse Worker Resource Center

521 N. Euclid Ave.
Ontario, CA 91762

About

About Us
Events
History
Team
Partners
Jobs

Advocacy

Campaigns
Education
Reports
News & Updates

Support

Get Legal Help
Resources
Contact Us

Donate

Connect

Get Email Updates

©Warehouse Workers Resource Center - 2022. All Rights Reserved.

Privacy Policy

Warehouse Worker Resource Center
  • About Us
    • Events
    • Team
    • History
    • Partners
    • Jobs
  • Campaigns
    • Support Inland Empire Amazon Workers
    • Justice for Immigrants
    • Building a Better San Bernardino
  • Your Rights
  • Resources
    • Reports
    • News & Updates
  • Education
  • Español

Join Our List Donate