SF General UCSF Rally to Protest Murder of UPTE CWA Social Worker

A labor community rally will be held to protest the murder of a CWA UPTE social worker at SF General. The collapsing health system and destruction of Cal-OSHA and the union busting attacks are part and parcel of this murder. Cal-OSHA has less than 200 inspectors and the Hospital was fined more than $26,000 for violating health and safety protections and retaliating against whistleblowers.

UPTE Demands Safety & Transparency
Recently, an UPTE member was stabbed and killed while working at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFGH) UCSF HIV Clinic at Ward 86. This was a severe workplace violence incident with profound impacts on staff across units. Although the incident occurred at Ward 86, the safety concerns and infrastructure failures implicated UCSF Campus programs operating at San Francisco General Hospital, including outpatient, inpatient, and crisis-response teams.

Workers have repeatedly raised concerns about the absence of basic safety infrastructure, including a lack of metal detectors or equivalent screening procedures, inconsistent security presence, and no standardized protocols for high-risk patients or regular safety huddles. We have also continuously raised concerns about safe staffing levels, as our behavioral health workers play a direct role in risk assessments for our clients. We understand that leadership has indicated safety changes will be implemented. We expect those changes to be concrete, timely, compliant with Cal/OSHA’s workplace violence prevention requirements, and clearly communicated to staff.

We are formally requesting (click each item to see an expanded view of the demand):

1. Immediate, written safety plan before staff are expected to resume normal operations

2. Defined minimum staffing and caseload limits and security standards for high-risk situations.

3. Protected time off that does not draw from employees’ sick or vacation banks

4. Immediate supports for affected staff and teams

5. Ongoing structural improvements to workplace violence prevention
Furthermore, UPTE expects a system-wide security assessment covering every UCSF behavioral health unit, including Hyde Street and Stanyon Hospitals, with immediate, concentrated review and mitigation planning for all campus-based worksites. To ensure transparency and timely action, we request:

A joint meeting including hospital leadership, security, risk management, impacted social workers, and union representatives.

A written response by Thursday, December 11, 2025, outlining all immediate and planned safety actions, including timelines for implementation.

The above requests reflect concerns that staff have raised over many years, and especially in the aftermath of this incident. The requested changes reflect the needs of staff across units who face similar conditions. Many social workers and clinicians continue to work under conditions similar to those in which this incident occurred, and immediate intervention is required to ensure safety.

Our members have a right to a safe workplace. Asking staff to continue providing care without meaningful, clearly communicated changes after a violent incident of this magnitude is unacceptable. We are committed to working collaboratively on solutions and expect tangible commitments and timelines from hospital leadership.


Cal/OSHA vacancy rate still high -- possible new hire retention problem?

Garrett Brown garrettbrown2021 [at] gmail.com
Https://insidecalosha.org

Dear Colleagues: The final update of the year! But not a lot new – which may indicate retention problems for new hires at Cal/OSHA if the vacancy rate stays high even while hiring is occurring.

The latest available data on Cal/OSHA field compliance inspector vacancies – as of October 1st – shows that there are 93 vacant inspector positions for a vacancy rate of 33%. Nine compliance offices have inspector vacancies of 50% or greater, crippling the offices’ ability to protect California workers.

California only has one field inspector for every 100,000 workers – much less protective than the inspector to worker ratios in Oregon and Washington state. In July 2020, the CPS HR Consulting firm issued its report on a workload study of Cal/OSHA field inspectors and concluded that 328 inspectors – 45 positions more than those funded in September 2025 – were needed at that time. The inspector workload has increased since 2020.

Meanwhile the Department of Industrial Relations – Cal/OSHA’s parent agency – claims the “Enforcement” vacancies in Cal/OSHA on October 31st are no more than 8% [ https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/DOSH-Recruitment-Hiring.html ]. At the November 13th Cal/OSHA Advisory Committee meeting, the Division’s Deputy Chief for Enforcement stated that the field inspector vacancy rate was 29%.

A position-by-position hand count of all Cal/OSHA field inspector positions document 93 vacancies and a rate of 33% as of September 30th. To reach an 8% vacancy rate by October 31st – as the DIR website claims – 70 inspectors would have to have been hired in the month of October. That hiring did not occur, and DIR’s web chart is inaccurate and unreliable.

The fact that inspector vacancies are still at 33% despite the hiring of recent months may indicate that Cal/OSHA has a significant retention problem. I have heard reports that some new hires have left the agency within 6-9 months of being hired because of the punishing workload and insufficient training and support.

As has been the case for months, nine enforcement District Offices have CSHO vacancy rates at or above 50%. These offices are Fremont (67%), Santa Barbara (67%), PSM Non-Refinery (63%). Long Beach (60%), Bakersfield (57%), San Bernardino (54%), Riverside (50%), San Francisco (50%), and Monrovia (50%).

Two Los Angeles basin District Offices – responsible for protecting workers involved in the clean-up and rebuilding after the January wildfires – have significant CSHO vacancies: Long Beach (60%) and Monrovia (50%).

In addition, there are four District Offices with no District Manager and three offices with no clerical staff. In these offices, field compliance officers have to fill in for managers and clerical workers, further reducing the resources available for field inspections.

The latest available data indicates that 23 field compliance safety and health officers (CSHOs) are “bilingual.” Seven of the 10 members of the Agriculture Safety enforcement unit are bilingual. Region II (Northern California and Central Valley) and Region VIII (Central Valley and Central Coast) are regions with numerous farmworkers, yet both Region II and Region VIII both have one bilingual inspector each. It isestimated that at least 5 million of the state’s 19 million worker labor force speak languages other than English, with many monolingual in their native tongue.

There are only two industrial hygienists among the 197 filled CSHO positions, which means that enforcement inspections involving “health” issues – such as heat, wildfire smoke, airborne lead and silica exposures, noise, and ergonomics – are severely limited by lack of qualified personnel.

Aftermath of State Audit

In July 2025, the California State Auditor issued its report on Cal/OSHA’s performance over a five-year period ending in June 2024. The report documented how numerous worker complaints and incidents that resulted in serious worker injuries simply were not investigated by Cal/OSHA’s enforcement offices.

In the last year the State Auditor examined (fiscal year 2023-24), Cal/OSHA responded to 82% of validated worker complaints with a “letter investigation” – simply a letter to the employer asking them to self-report about workplace hazards – and only 17% of worker complaints generated an on-site inspection. On-site inspections following employer reports of serious worker injuries and illnesses only occurred in 42% of the cases.

In inspections that were conducted, the Auditor found that many enforcement actions were incomplete, failed to follow standard protocols, and resulted in penalties to employers violating state laws that were lower than established by the agency’s own policies and procedures.

Deficiencies in Cal/OSHA’s field response has continued after the audit period. In the first three quarters of 2025, DIR reported that more than half (58%) of all Cal/OSHA’s response to worker complaints, accident reports, planned inspections and referrals consisted of “letter investigations.” On-site inspections made up 42% of Cal/OSHA’s response in Q1-Q3 2025. (Se the accompanying file.)

Chronic CSHO vacancies have generated tremendous pressure on District Managers and CSHOs themselves to “open and close, open and close, open and close” as many perfunctory inspections as possible to keep up with the steady incoming flow of worker complaints and employer accident reports.

The State Auditor report is posted at: https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2024-115/#summary

Enforcement budget cut undermines efforts to improve

Cal/OSHA’s Enforcement budget for the current fiscal year 2025-26 was slashed by $16 million – adding under-funding to under-staffing for the beleaguered worker safety agency. Governor Gavin Newsom – taking a page from President Trump’s playbook – proposed a $21 million cut for worker protection enforcement, and the Democratic Legislature approved a $16 million reduction. Cal/OSHA is financed by a completely independent fund which receives no state revenues, and which has run $200 million surpluses in the last three fiscal years (including the present year). There is no fiscal reason requiring this budget cutback.

California’s worker H&S protections dramatically lower than neighboring states

The standard measure of worker health and safety protection agencies internationally is the ratio of inspectors to workers. The International Labor Organization (ILO) recommends a ratio of 1 inspector to 15,000 workers for advanced industrial countries.

The state of Washington has a ratio of 1 inspector to 28,000 workers, while the state of Oregon has a ratio of 1 inspector to 23,000 workers. This state data comes from the April 2025 “Death on the Job” report issued by the AFL-CIO. The hand count of Cal/OSHA positions on the latest available Organization Chart documents a ratio in California of 1 inspector to 100,000 workers.

Don’t the workers of California deserve the same level of protection that workers in Oregon and Washington enjoy?

Happy holidays, Garrett Brown





S.F. General staff raised fears about troubled patient in weeks before stabbing
https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/general-hospital-social-worker-stabbed-arrest-sf-21225953.php
By Annie Vainshtein, St. John Barned-Smith,
Staff Writers
Updated Dec 5, 2025 5:39 p.m.

A social worker was stabbed in the neck and shoulder at San Francisco General Hospital’s Ward 86, allegedly by a patient.
A social worker was stabbed in the neck and shoulder at San Francisco General Hospital’s Ward 86, allegedly by a patient.
Google Street View

In the weeks before a San Francisco General Hospital patient allegedly stabbed a UCSF social worker in front of his colleagues Thursday, clinic staff repeatedly warned supervisors they were terrified the man could become violent.
Police on Thursday arrested the alleged assailant, 34-year-old Wilfredo Tortolero-Arriechi, who was accused of stabbing a social worker he knew in the neck and shoulder around 1:30 p.m. Tortolero-Arriechi was allegedly looking for one of the clinic’s doctors, according to a person familiar with the incident.
The social worker, who has not been publicly identified, remained in critical condition Friday evening, according to the Department of Public Health.

The suspect was being held without bail Friday on suspicion of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and other charges, according to San Francisco County jail records.
Tortolero-Arriechi allegedly threatened multiple hospital employees in the weeks leading up to the stabbing, according to an employee who was not authorized to speak publicly about the incident. The employee was granted anonymity in accordance with Chronicle policies.

Hours before the stabbing, Tortolero-Arriechi went to the San Francisco City Clinic, a sexual health clinic South of Market, to look for the doctor he was targeting, the source said. The doctor works at both facilities, the source said. A director at City Clinic hid the doctor and told Tortolero-Arriechi the doctor wasn’t there.
Tortolero-Arriechi then told the director he would seek out the doctor at Ward 86, San Francisco General Hospital’s long-term HIV clinic, the person said.

After that incident, staffers — including the doctor who Tortolero-Arriechi was allegedly targeting — reiterated their pleas to Department of Public Health security chief Basil Price for assistance, according to the source. They told the security head they were frightened the patient would be coming to Ward 86 later that day.
Price did not respond to requests for comment Friday. In an email, DPH officials said the hospital was undertaking a “top-to-bottom investigation to identify vulnerabilities and implement immediate and long-term reforms.” Officials said they reported the assault to the California Department of Public Health and CAL/OSHA, the state workplace safety agency.
A sheriff’s deputy was dispatched Thursday afternoon to Ward 86 to provide “standby safety support for the doctor,” said Tara Moriarty, director of communications for the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office. The agency provides security services at San Francisco General, but its presence has dwindled in recent years, according to union officials for the sheriff’s office.
The source also said security had a photo of the troubled patient in its possession for weeks, the source told the Chronicle.
When the patient arrived at Ward 86 that afternoon looking for the doctor and yelling in Spanish, the 51-year-old bilingual social worker who knew him approached him and tried to de-escalate the situation, the source said.
Instead, the patient allegedly stabbed the social worker in the neck and shoulder.
Moriarty said the deputy was with the doctor who had requested security when the incident unfolded. When the deputy heard the commotion, he immediately went out into the hallway and intervened, so medical staff could render aid to the victim, she said.
Police recovered a 5-inch knife allegedly used in the incident. The building does not have metal detectors.
“We extend our deepest concern for the injured social worker, our gratitude to the hospital staff who acted swiftly under difficult circumstances, and our compassion for the staff and patients who witnessed such a traumatic event,” Moriarty said.
DPH officials acknowledged the “deeply distressing and traumatic incident and called the response from the Ward 86 staff “nothing short of courageous and heroic.”
Hospital staff at San Francisco General Hospital have raised repeated concerns about safety at the facility over the years, as the hospital has reduced staffing of sheriff’s deputies from 45 in 2022 to 28 currently, said Ken Lomba, president of the San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs’ Association.
The change was made in response to disproportionate uses of force against the hospital’s patient population, according to a 2021 memo.
“They have been reducing them every year,” Lomba said Friday, adding that he believed the hospital’s current safety system was “not a safe plan” for the hospital. “It was all scaled back by Dir. Price’s security plan.”
In October 2019, a patient punched a nurse, triggering safety complaints from workers and prompting investigations from Cal/OSHA and the California Department of Public Health investigations, the Chronicle reported.
In 2020 Cal/OSHA fined the hospital $26,660 for understaffing its emergency room, failing to provide violence prevention training, and retaliating against ER staff who wanted to take legal action against violent patients.
The state’s workplace safety agency found that patients slipped through security with knives, and although nurses red-flagged violent patients in hospital records, the warnings later disappeared. When patients assaulted nurses, the hospital failed to provide first aid or trauma counseling and debrief the incident, Cal/OSHA found.
The agency found that the hospital retaliated against workers who complained about dangerous conditions. The hospital administrators appealed the finding and criticized the state agency for neglecting to give enough time for them to meaningfully review their response to the allegations.
Hospital administrators responded by posting signs condemning violence and creating both a faster emergency response system and an emergency department violence prevention task force, as well as training staff in safety plans, DPH told the Chronicle at the time.
On Friday afternoon, DPH and hospital officials promised during a Microsoft Teams call with staff to make “material changes” after the stabbing. The Chronicle obtained access to the meeting, which was not open to the public.
During the meeting, hospital CEO Susan Ehrlich said they would be consolidating two entryways to one courtyard entrance, which would help secure the building.
Starting this weekend, security would begin “wanding” people entering the building, Ehrlich said, referring to metal detector security wands. She did not specify which building or whether the change would be hospital-wide.
“We know people are heartbroken, they are angry,” Ehrlich said. “We are angry.”
Officials said they would be expediting the installation of a “weapons detection system” for several hospital buildings, including the one that houses Ward 86. While the system is installed, officials said they would implement security wanding at both buildings.
Officials also pledged to strengthen security protocols for cases where patients had been identified as high-risk threats to staff safety.
During the staff meeting, Dan Tsai, chief of the city’s public health department, described the incident as “every frontline worker’s worst-case scenario.”
“This event should not have happened,” he said. “It is not something that should ever happen in our workplace. ... The impact is profound.”

S.F. General staff raised fears about troubled patient in weeks before stabbing
https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/general-hospital-social-worker-stabbed-arrest-sf-21225953.php
By Annie Vainshtein, St. John Barned-Smith,
Staff Writers
Updated Dec 5, 2025 5:39 p.m.

Ward 86 at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, where a social worker was stabbed in the neck and shoulder.
Ward 86 at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, where a social worker was stabbed in the neck and shoulder.

In the weeks before a UCSF social worker at San Francisco General Hospital was stabbed by a patient in front of his colleagues on Thursday, clinic staff repeatedly warned supervisors they were terrified the man could become violent.
Police on Thursday arrested the alleged assailant, 34-year-old Wilfredo Tortolero-Arriechi, who was accused of stabbing a social worker he knew in the neck and shoulder around 1:30 p.m. Tortolero-Arriechi was allegedly looking for one of the clinic’s doctors, according to a person familiar with the incident.
The social worker, who has not been publicly identified, remained in critical condition Friday evening, according to the Department of Public Health.

The suspect was being held without bail Friday on suspicion of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and other charges, according to San Francisco county jail records.
Tortolero-Arriechi allegedly threatened multiple hospital employees in the weeks leading up to the stabbing, according to an employee who was not authorized to speak publicly about the incident. They were granted anonymity in accordance with Chronicle policies.

Hours before the stabbing, Tortolero-Arriechi went to the San Francisco City Clinic, a sexual health clinic in SOMA, to look for the doctor he was targeting, the source said. The doctor works at both facilities, the source said. A director at City Clinic hid the doctor and told Tortolero-Arriechi the doctor wasn’t there.
Tortolero-Arriechi then told the director he would seek out the doctor at Ward 86, San Francisco General Hospital’s long-term HIV clinic, the person said.


After that incident, staffers — including the doctor who Tortolero-Arriechi was allegedly targeting — reiterated their pleas to Department of Public Health head of security Basil Price for assistance, according to the source. They told the security head they were frightened the patient would be coming to Ward 86 later that day.
Price did not respond to requests for comment Friday. In an email, DPH officials said the hospital was undertaking a “top-to-bottom investigation to identify vulnerabilities and implement immediate and long-term reforms.” Officials said they reported the assault to the California Department of Public Health and CAL/OSHA, the state workplace safety agency.
A sheriff’s deputy was dispatched on Thursday afternoon to Ward 86 to provide “standby safety support for the doctor,” said Tara Moriarty, director of communications for the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office. The agency provides security services at San Francisco General, but its presence has dwindled in recent years, according to union officials for the sheriff’s office.
The source also said security had a photo of the troubled patient in their possession for weeks, the source told the Chronicle.
When the patient arrived at Ward 86 that afternoon looking for the doctor and yelling in Spanish, the 51-year-old bilingual social worker who knew him approached him and tried to de-escalate the situation, the source said.
Instead, the patient stabbed the social worker in the neck and the shoulder.
Moriarty said the deputy was with the doctor who had requested security when the incident unfolded. When the deputy heard the commotion, he immediately went out into the hallway and intervened, so medical staff could render aid to the victim, she said.
Police recovered a 5-inch knife allegedly used in the incident. The building does not have metal detectors.
“We extend our deepest concern for the injured social worker, our gratitude to the hospital staff who acted swiftly under difficult circumstances, and our compassion for the staff and patients who witnessed such a traumatic event,” said Moriarty.
DPH officials acknowledged the “deeply distressing and traumatic incident and called the response from the Ward 86 staff “nothing short of courageous and heroic.”
Hospital staff at San Francisco General Hospital have raised repeated concerns about safety at the facility over the years, as the hospital has reduced staffing of sheriff’s deputies from 45 in 2022 to 28 currently, said Ken Lomba, president of the San Francisco Deputy Sheriff’s Association.
The change was made in response to disproportionate uses of force against the hospital’s patient population, according to a 2021 memo.
“They have been reducing them every year,” Lomba said Friday, adding that he believed the hospital’s current safety system was “not a safe plan” for the hospital. “It was all scaled back by Dir. Price’s security plan.”
In October 2019, a patient punched a nurse, triggering safety complaints from workers and prompting investigations from Cal/OSHA and the California Department of Public Health investigations, the Chronicle reported.
In 2020 Cal/OSHA fined the hospital $26,660 for understaffing its emergency room, failing to provide violence-prevention training, and retaliating against ER staff who wanted to take legal action against violent patients.
The state’s workplace safety agency found that patients slipped through security with knives, and although nurses red-flagged violent patients in hospital records, the warnings later disappeared. When patients assaulted nurses, the hospital failed to provide first aid or trauma counseling and debrief the incident, Cal/OSHA found.
The agency found that the hospital retaliated against workers who complained about dangerous conditions. The hospital administrators appealed the finding, and criticized the state agency for neglecting to give enough time for them to meaningfully review their response to the allegations.
Hospital administrators responded by posting signs condemning violence, and creating both a faster emergency response system and an emergency department violence prevention task force, as well as training staff in safety plans, DPH told the Chronicle at the time.
On Friday afternoon, DPH and hospital officials promised to make “material changes” following the stabbing during a Microsoft Teams call with staff. The Chronicle obtained access to the meeting, which was not open to the public.
During the meeting, hospital CEO Susan Ehrlich said they would be consolidating two entryways to one courtyard entrance, which would help security secure the building.
Starting this weekend, security would begin “wanding” people entering the building, Ehrlich said, referring to metal detector security wands. She did not specify which building or whether the change would be hospital-wide.
“We know people are heartbroken, they are angry,” said Ehrlich. “We are angry.”
Officials said they would be expediting the installation of a “weapons detection system” for several hospital buildings, including the one that houses Ward 86. While the system is installed, officials said they would implement security wanding at both buildings.
Officials also pledged to strengthen security protocols for cases where patients had been identified as high-risk threats to staff safety.
During the staff meeting, Dan Tsai, chief of the city’s public health department, described the incident as “every frontline worker’s worst-case scenario.”
“This event should not have happened,” he said. “It is not something that should ever happen in our workplace. ... The impact is profound.”


As Trump Guts Workplace Health and Safety Protections, CalOSHA Must Step Up
https://thelefthook.com/2025/09/11/as-trump-guts-workplace-health-and-safety-protections-calosha-must-step-up/
By Ruth Silver Taube Sep 11, 2025
The Trump administration has rapidly rolled back federal workplace regulations and protections and closed OSHA offices. It closed 11 OSHA offices in states with the highest workplace fatality rates and eliminated 34 offices of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), which protects coal miners from hazards like black lung disease.

The Department of Labor (DOL) has dismantled or eliminated 63 workplace regulations. It is rolling back the walkaround rule that allowed employees to designate a third-party, such as a union official, to accompany OSHA inspectors, and the electronic reporting requirements that require certain large employers to submit detailed injury and illness data is likely to be rolled back.

The Trump administration is also halting progress on several new safety standards. The administration has paused the proposed federal standard to protect workers from extreme heat exposure, which would have required employers to provide water and rest breaks and a new rule on silica exposure intended to reduce coal miners’ exposure to silica dust, which causes black lung disease.

In March and April 2025, the Trump administration effectively eliminated the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) by laying off almost 90% of its workforce and planning deep budget cuts. NIOSH plays a critical role in health and safety protections for workers.

NIOSH certifies respirators and tests other PPE and technologies used by workers across industries, including in health care, mining, manufacturing, firefighting and construction, and prevents counterfeits from entering the market; conducts critical mine safety research and provides medical screenings for coal miners; investigates workplaces to identify and mitigate exposure to toxins and potential health hazards; funds the formal training for future industrial hygienists, epidemiologists, physicians, and other occupational safety and health professionals through universities and field-based internships; and provides scientific and technical support to enable medical compensation for nuclear weapons workers and Sept. 11 first responders.

States have a critical responsibility to enforce workplace health and safety protections in the face of the dismantling of federal OSHA protections. Currently 21 states operate their own plans, and an additional six states maintain OSHA plans covering state and local government employees (who are not covered by federal OSHA).

California has gone above the federal floor and enacted standards on heat exposure and silica exposure thanks to advocacy by nonprofits like Worksafe and SoCalCOSH. California has also enacted Senator Cortese’s bill, SB 533, effective July 1, 2024, which mandated a workplace violence prevention plan and training by that date.

Unfortunately, a 2025 California State Auditor report found significant staffing shortages and process deficiencies at Cal/OSHA and issued a list of recommendations for improvement. The audit reviewed cases between 2019 and 2024 and identified critical weaknesses in the agency’s procedures including unanswered worker complaints and accidents closed without sufficient on-site investigation.

The audit also found a 32% overall vacancy rate in fiscal year 2023-24 that compromised its ability to conduct necessary on-site inspections and enforce labor protections. According to CalOSHA’s staffing data, of October 2024, the vacancy rate was at 55% at the Fremont office, the closest office to San Jose.

The audit found that assessed fines were sometimes less than warranted. It also found that CalOSHA’s reliance on outdated and paper-based systems for case management and documentation have slowed work and delayed projects.

At a hearing in Sacramento after the report, legislators slammed CalOSHA for its deficiencies.. Senator Ortega cited three workers who died after they were crushed by machinery at a metal manufacturing and recycling plant in her district, without sufficient consequences for the employer.

The Department of Industrial Relations’ (DIR) response to the report was that it has taken steps to improve staffing, with vacancies decreasing since the audit. Unfortunately, AB 694 (McKinnor), a bill, which would address CalOSHA’s vacancy problem died in the Appropriations suspense file.

Advocates have long complained about the lack of bilingual staff. According to CalOSHA’s staffing data, as of October 2024, Cal/OSHA had only10 certified bilingual inspectors–while 5 million of the state’s 19 million workers speak languages other than English. CalOSHA is actively recruiting bilingual inspectors.

The DIR also responded to the report’s recommendation that it modernize its processes. DIR stated that it is modernizing its processes by implementing a new digital data management system, with a projected implementation date of 2027. A CalOSHA spokesperson called it the biggest technology project in the history of CalOSHA.

DIR stated that it is also working on revisions to its policies to require better documentation for decisions to forgo on-site inspections and to emphasize factors like the severity of allegations when prioritizing inspections.

In the face of the administration’s gutting of workplace health and safety protections and the effective elimination of NIOSH, it is urgent that CalOSHA swiftly step up, implement the recommendations in the State Auditor report, and enact additional worker protections. Congress must also act and listen to the AFL-CIO, unions, workers, and advocates’ calls for the restoration of NIOSH and federal workplace health and safety protections.

Democratic Governor Newsom Killing Cal OSHA & Harming Worker Safety
California OSHA inspectors don’t visit worksites even when workers are injured
https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/07/california-osha-inspections-state-audit/?_gl=1*1g6valp*_ga*MTUxMDkyNDE5LjE3NTMxNDAxMDU.*_ga_5TKXNLE5NK*czE3NTMxNDAxMDQkbzEkZzAkdDE3NTMxNDAxMDQkajYwJGwwJGgw*_ga_DX0K9PCWYH*czE3NTMxNDAxMDQkbzEkZzAkdDE3NTMxNDAxMDQkajYwJGwwJGgw

Avatar photo
BY JEANNE KUANG
JULY 19, 2025

A person carries a large plastic bucket filled with produce on their shoulder while working in a field of green crops during harvest. Surrounded by others bending over the plants, the individual wears a long-sleeve shirt, hat, and face covering for sun protection. A tractor and trailer are visible in the background under the warm early morning or late afternoon light.
Farmworkers harvest banana peppers at a farm near the town of Helm on July 1, 2025. Photo by Larry Valenzuela,
IN SUMMARY

Nearly a third of Cal/OSHA positions were vacant last year. A new state audit found that caused the agency to skip in-person inspections, even when workers were injured.
Welcome to CalMatters, the only nonprofit newsroom devoted solely to covering issues that affect all Californians. Sign up for WhatMatters to receive the latest news and commentary on the most important issues in the Golden State.
California’s worker safety agency is under-inspecting workplaces after accidents and worker injuries, failing to enforce labor regulations in a way that “may undermine” them because it does not have enough employees to do the inspections, a state audit found.

In a review of the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health published Thursday, state auditors found understaffing was a primary factor leading inspectors to skip in-person inspections of worksites even in cases where auditors found — and division managers agreed — it was likely warranted.

Nearly one-third of the division’s 800-plus positions were vacant last year, a rate that is even worse in some district offices and among some of the staff responsible for inspections and enforcement.

“When it does perform inspections, Cal/OSHA’s process has critical weaknesses,” state auditor Grant Parks wrote.

The weaknesses, he wrote, included inspectors failing to review employers’ required injury prevention plans, document notes from interviews with workers, initiate inspections quickly and ensure employers had addressed alleged hazards before closing a case file.

State law allows Cal/OSHA to inspect workplaces in-person proactively, after accidents or in response to a complaint. But it only mandates inspections for workplace deaths or “serious” accidents, generally defined as those requiring inpatient hospital care or resulting in “serious permanent disfiguration.”

Enforcement staff first determine if the complaints are valid, and then often choose to inspect “by letter” instead, which involves writing to employers asking them to investigate the complaints themselves and document how they’ve addressed hazards.

Last year out of more than 12,000 complaints, the agency found 87% valid; staff inspected just 17% of those workplaces in person rather than investigating “by letter.” Out of 5,800 workplace accidents, the agency deemed 42% serious enough to send an inspector.

Auditors found staff didn’t always investigate a complaint or inspect a worksite when they should have.

In one case, a union representative filed a complaint saying that construction workers were riding on heavy machinery on the road with no seat belts, and another worker was hanging off the side of the vehicle, in danger of falling and being hit in oncoming traffic. Cal/OSHA declined to investigate because the incident was on a public road and therefore outside the agency’s jurisdiction. But the audit found the agency should have opened the complaint because workers were riding in a company vehicle — activity covered by workplace safety regulations.

Auditors reviewed another complaint from a kitchen worker who was taken to the ER by ambulance, possibly from heat illness. The worker reported poor ventilation, broken air conditioning and temperatures that reached 90 degrees indoors. Despite agency policies requiring on-site inspections for serious hazards involving current employees, and for any heat-related complaints, Cal/OSHA sent the employer a letter. Auditors reviewing the case records found the employer had not responded.

Serious injuries investigated by letter

The audit also highlighted two injuries that Cal/OSHA said weren’t “serious” enough to inspect in person; in one, a worker was cut by a chainsaw, requiring surgery and an overnight hospital stay, and in another a worker was knocked out when hit in the head and suffered a skull fracture, but was not formally admitted to the hospital.

In the chainsaw case, managers told auditors the worker was wearing protective equipment so there was less reason to suspect workplace violations. In general, the audit found that managers overwhelmingly reported understaffing as the reason for not inspecting.

The agency, the audit noted, doesn’t have a complaint form on its website. To file a complaint, workers must call or email a Cal/OSHA district office, or fill out a complaint form on the federal OSHA website.

The audit places further pressure on Cal/OSHA and its beleaguered parent agency, the Department of Industrial Relations, to deal with a trenchant staffing problem that advocates and lawmakers say renders some of the strictest worker protections in the nation toothless.

It comes a year after a similar audit of the Labor Commissioner’s Office, also a part of that department, which found workers complaining to the agency about wage theft were waiting more than two years on average to get their claims resolved — six times longer than the time required by law.

Both audits were ordered by state lawmakers, who are by now familiar with the understaffing complaints. One bill this year would require the department to study how to make more appealing career paths for the inspector positions, some of which require engineering degrees.

Stephen Knight, director of the advocacy group Worksafe, called the audit’s findings “really disappointing.”

“It confirms that California’s promise to hold employers accountable remains unfulfilled,” Knight said. “There’s a lot of good solid detail and suggestions in the audit, nothing they couldn’t have figured out beforehand. Certainly what it would require is resources and political leadership that sides with workers over corner-cutting employers.”

The problem is urgent, he said, noting workplace accidents have killed three teenagers in California just the past two weeks: one who fell into a meat grinder at a burrito factory in Los Angeles County and two who died in a fireworks warehouse explosion in rural Yolo County.

The workplace agency has been the subject of several investigations in recent years. Last year the Sacramento Bee found the division of Cal/OSHA that recommends cases for criminal prosecution was so understaffed it couldn’t even consider cases in which workers suffered severe but nonfatal accidents, such as ones that caused paralysis. CalMatters last year reported that the agency’s inspections and citations of heat-related hazards had plummeted since the pandemic, despite the rising risks of extreme heat for outdoor workers.

In a letter dated June 27 responding to the audit, Department of Industrial Relations director Katrina Hagen wrote that the department “has been working to address structural and process issues, as well as recruitment and retention issues,” including studying the agency’s pay and job responsibility levels. Hagen wrote that Cal/OSHA’s vacancy rate had dropped to 12% this year; the auditor responded they hadn’t seen up-to-date data showing that.

Hagen also wrote that Cal/OSHA is working on making an online complaint form, and said the agency is getting a new case management system that will flag cases that should have gotten an in-person inspection, but didn’t. Both upgrades, she wrote, are expected in 2027.

‘What’s the point?’

The audit also questioned Cal/OSHA’s practice of reducing the fines it issued to employers after citing them for safety violations. Employers often appeal citations, a process that can take years to resolve, and the fines or violations can be reduced during settlement conferences, but the auditors wrote that the reasons aren’t always documented. In a four-year period reviewed by auditors, the average reduction was more than half the original fine.

Assembly Labor Committee Chair Liz Ortega, a Hayward Democrat who requested the audit last year, slammed the practice.

“This Cal/OSHA standard operating procedure can stop TODAY,” she wrote in response to a query from CalMatters. “Injuries won’t abate until there are consequences. If Cal/OSHA won’t do it, we should get someone who will.”

She said she wanted to see the agency increase its referrals for criminal prosecution to 5% of serious cases this year, and called the investigations that don’t include in-person inspections “fake.”

“Sending a letter!!!” Ortega wrote. “What’s the point?”