Inspectors shut down melon harvest over heat rules
| Tuesday, Aug 11 2009 06:23 PM
Last Updated Tuesday, Aug 11 2009 06:26 PM
State inspectors shut down a Bakersfield watermelon harvesting operation Tuesday morning over alleged violations of heat safety regulations.
Members of a multi-agency enforcement team said they found 17 employees of Bakersfield-based Uri Brothers Farm Inc. working in temperatures above 90 degrees with no access to shade and no cups for water, among other violations, including no lunch breaks and cash in lieu of paychecks.
A representative of the company, Los Angeles accountant Paul Kim, said some of the allegations -- including the lack of shade -- were accurate, but not all of them. Kim said he spoke Tuesday with the company's owner, Young Lee, and that Lee intends to appeal at least some of the charges.
"I guess most of those things ... may be true but not all of them," Kim said.
Lee could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Two inspectors said they arrived at the company's watermelon patch at 5710 Legray Road shortly after 8 a.m. and found 17 farmworkers in 91-degree heat with water but no cups and no shade for miles around. One of the inspectors said there was no supervisor at the site who had undergone state-required training for heat illness and that there was no plan for helping workers experiencing symptoms of heat-related illness.
Four more employees were found in a nearby radish field working without adequate water or shade, inspector Aston Ling said.
The inspectors said they continued on to a company packing shed two miles from the field and discovered machinery without safety protections.
While an investigation could take up to six months, and could lead to fines, the watermelon operation could resume soon if the company meets state requirements, said Erika Monterroza, a spokeswoman with the state Department of Industrial Relations.
Monterroza said three agriculture workers died of heat-related illness statewide last year. None have been confirmed this year, she said.
The state performed 1,018 surprise inspections of work sites in 2007, 2,583 in 2008 and 1,971 this year through July 29, Monterroza said. During that time, she said, employer compliance with state heat precautions has increased from 52 percent to 85 percent.
