Workplace Safety

A year after the first COVID-19 case hit California, the state agency in charge of policing offices, warehouses, and other workplaces is understaffed and significantly undercounting the number of people in Fresno County and across the state who’ve fallen seriously ill with the coronavirus. Employers in Fresno County reported only 66 serious worker illnesses or […]

Farmworkers lost out on up to $1.5 billion in grants and loans for COVID-19 safety needs after the USDA committed funds earmarked as such for a food box program.  The USDA announced on Jan. 4 that it planned to spend $1.5 billion in a fifth round of the Farmers to Families Food Box Program. It has yet […]

As we head into the new year, it’s important to take stock of what rights and protections California workers won – and lost.

Nine months into the pandemic, the public remains in the dark about most workplace outbreaks. Fresno County public health officials blame incomplete data and staffing shortages. One lawmaker may reintroduce legislation to make workplace outbreak data public statewide.

Foster Farms shut down its facility on Cherry Street in Fresno following a coronavirus outbreak but reopened by Monday, according to company officials. Over the past two weeks, 193 workers at the 1,400-person facility in southwest Fresno tested positive for COVID-19, according to Ira Brill, vice president of communications for Foster Farms. None of the […]

Backed by the state’s attorney general and welcomed by labor advocates as better late than never, California's new policy will start to hold businesses accountable for protecting their workers, mandate reporting outbreaks and decrease crowding in housing for vulnerable guest farmworkers spotlighted in a California Divide investigation.

Oregon led with transparency in reporting workplace outbreaks. California shields businesses so as not to shame them. The distinction has workers and public health experts worried.

California is one of 22 states with a dedicated state agency charged with keeping workers safe and healthy. Here's how you can report problems.

Seventeen-year-old Avenal resident Rafael Cerda Calderon has always struggled with severe seizures, autism, and a developmental disability. He will likely need care for the rest of his life. According to a lawsuit Cerda’s family recently filed in Kings County Superior Court, the multi-billion dollar agribusiness company Corteva, Inc., is to blame. Cerda’s parents alleged that […]

A CalMatters analysis shows that Cal/OSHA dispatches inspectors in just 5% of COVID complaint cases. Non-COVID complaints were more than twice as likely to result in on-site inspections — but that’s still far below the pre-pandemic share.