Mabton dairy appeals workplace safety fine
By Ross Courtney
rcourtney@yakimaherald.com
MABTON, Wash. — A Mabton dairy is appealing a state fine levied after an investigation of a drowning death in March revealed safety violations.
Employee Randy Vasquez of Mabton drowned March 4 in a manure storage lagoon when his front loader became submerged in the pond, used to store cow manure before it can be sprayed onto fields.
The state Department of Labor and Industries in July fined Riverview Ranch a total of $6,800 for three violations of industry safety standards.
The dairy appealed the decision in a July 20 letter and will receive a hearing before a hearing officer, who will either reaffirm the citation, modify it or help negotiate a settlement, said Elaine Fisher, a spokeswoman for the Labor and Industries Department.
L&I cited the dairy for three problems ranked as “serious,” defined as a controllable hazard likely to cause injury or death.
• The lagoon lacked warning signs.
• The pond had no protective rails or fences on the northwest side.
• Rescue equipment was not stored nearby the lagoon, and dairy staff attempted to retrieve Vasquez’s body without mechanical equipment, harnesses and a safety attendant.
“Willful” hazards are the department’s highest rank and carry a fine 10 times that of serious.
John Banks, the dairy’s owner, appealed the department’s citation, arguing the three penalties should all be included in one.
Banks’ appeal letter also questioned the department’s authority to enforce industry standards beyond Washington Administrative Code, which are legal regulations.
Banks also asked the hearing officer to review the amount of the penalty in light of his farm’s previously perfect safety record.
Jeff Lutz, the Washington Farm Bureau’s safety director, is representing Banks in the appeal, according to the letter. Lutz also represents Banks in the department’s Retro Safety program, an incentive plan that refunds participating employers a portion of their worker’s compensation premiums in exchange for reducing workplace injuries.
The 16-year-old dairy has had no injury claims, injuries requiring hospitalization or fatalities before Vasquez’s accident, Fisher said.
The department’s investigators determine fines under a rubric that takes into account past safety records, the seriousness of the hazards, the number of workers exposed to the hazards and size of the farm, Fisher said.
Riverview Ranch has 12 employees.
However, the department does not fine more or less because someone died, she said.
“It would have been the same even if there was no tragedy,” she said.
Banks also had until July 20 to fix the problems and the appeal did not change the deadline, Fisher said, though it was unclear Monday afternoon if he had.
Banks declined to respond Monday.
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Mourn Randy, fight for dairy workers’ safety
DEATH AT THE RIVER RANCH DAIRY
By JEFF JOHNSON
(April 7, 2015) — On Tuesday, Feb. 24, Randy Vasquez said goodbye to his wife and children and went to work at the River Ranch Dairy, 1220 Vance Road in Mabton, Wash. He never returned.
Randy, 27, worked as a milker on the night shift. At around 9 p.m., about an hour before milking, he took the front loader out to feed the cattle. Randy did not milk cows that night. He was found at 4:30 a.m. on Feb. 25 strapped into the front loader sunk six feet deep in a manure lagoon. Randy died of “asphyxiation due to inhalation of dairy waste water sludge,” according to the Yakima County coroner. Randy drowned to death in cow manure.
Conflicting reports put deaths on Washington state dairies at between 10 and 13 since the year 2000. In the Western region’s 4,150 dairies, 18 workplace deaths have been reported between 2003-2009.
Dairy work is considered to be one of the most hazardous occupations, with injury rates 50% higher than most private industry jobs. Dairy workers breath foul air containing bacteria and manure dust for 10 to 12 hours per shift, moving quickly over slick cement floors, and are frequently kicked and stepped on by 1,500-pound animals. Dairy workers typically get one day off between work schedules of five to six consecutive 12-hour work days. (See “The Dark Side of Dairies,” High Country News, for more information.)
Since only 1% of dairies in the West are inspected in any given year, agriculture is not covered under the National Labor Relations Act, and most dairy workers are not documented, the only real law governing dairies is that of the supervisor and the owner. Dairy workers do not have an effective voice at the workplace because they live in fear of deportation. Routinely, dairy workers do not get rest or meal breaks making fatigue another work place hazard.
Washington state, with about 500 licensed dairy farms, has the third most dairy farms in the West behind California and Idaho. The average dairy has 550 cows, but some have as many as 5,000. Three Mile Canyon Dairy in Oregon, organized by the United Farm Workers (UFW), has more than 13,000 cows.
While John Banks, the owner of River Ranch, is shaken over this workplace death, a few questions need to be answered by both him and the Washington State Farm Bureau, which runs his “Retrospective Rating Workers’ Compensation and Safety Program.”
Since Randy Vasquez didn’t return to the milking sheds by the 10 p.m. milking shift, why didn’t a search for Randy begin before the next morning’s shift started at 4:30 a.m.? Why isn’t the manure lagoon (pictured at right) marked, lit, and fenced? Who is responsible for the health and safety of dairy workers at River Ranch Dairy?
These questions and others were posed by the UFW’s Indira Trejo and Martin Rios at a demonstration and vigil in front of Darigold’s Seattle headquarters on March 31. John Kennely, assistant general counsel of Darigold, was asked what level of responsibility does Darigold take for ensuring that their cooperative’s member dairies provide safe and healthy work environments. Kennely repeatedly said that they “regret the accident but could not make any comments until after the Labor and Industries investigation.”
The Department of Labor and Industries is currently investigating Randy Vasquez’s workplace death.
TAKE A STAND — Click here to ask Darigold what protections will be put in place to prevent future tragedies.
Our hearts break at this senseless and avoidable workplace death, and we will work with Labor and Industries and the UFW on making dairies safer places to work. But in Randy’s memory we want to ask you to help us support his wife and her two young children with your generous contributions.
Please make checks out to the WSLC, with Randy Vasquez written in the memo line, and send them to us at the Washington State Labor Council, 321 16th Ave. South, Seattle, WA, 98144. We will send the donations and the names of the contributors are sent to his wife, Nubia.
Thank you for your kindness.Jeff Johnson is President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, the largest labor organization in the Evergreen State, representing the interests of more than 500 local unions and 400,000 rank-and-file union members.