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Dead farmworker's employer fined
A California agency issued six citations Wednesday and assessed fines of
$262,700 against Merced Farm Labor Contractor, based in Atwater, the
employer of a 17-year-old farmworker who died of heat stroke in May.
The fines are the largest assessed to an agricultural firm since the
permanent heat illness prevention regulations were implemented in 2006.
They were levied by the Department of Industrial Relations' Division of
Occupational Safety and Health.
An investigation of Merced Farm Labor Contractor was initiated following
the death of Maria Vasquez Jimenez, who had been working nine hours in a
Lodi vineyard with little water and no shade. She died two days after
collapsing in the field. Among its numerous violations, company
representatives failed to report the potential heat illness and death to
Cal/OSHA, as required by law, the agency said.
"This company willfully violated the key provisions of the heat illness
prevention regulations with tragic consequences," said John C. Duncan,
Department of Industrial Relations director, in a statement.
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