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District reports OSHA complaints; staff filed detailed responses and documentation
Summary
District staff told the board they received OSHA complaints and submitted responses by Jan. 5 and Jan. 14 addressing allegations including restroom access, PPE, sulfur-dioxide exposure and vehicle safety; staff provided drawings, training records and repair invoices and had not received further correspondence from OSHA as of the meeting.
The districts reclamation superintendent updated the board on OSHA complaints the district received Dec. 29 and subsequent responses submitted Jan. 5 and Jan. 14.
Allegations included lack of a separate women's restroom in a collection/refuse building, failure to provide personal protective equipment, alleged sulfur-dioxide exposure in the press building, raw-sewage backup into the press building, a lab ceiling reportedly held up by floor jacks and unsafe company vehicles.
Staff said they provided an architectural overlay showing a women's restroom within 100 feet of the collection/refuse building, documentation that employees receive clothing allowances and PPE (hard hats, safety glasses, earplugs, gas monitors and rain gear), training records from 2013 through 2025, vehicle pre- and post-trip inspection checklists (over 3,000 inspections in 2025), repair agreements and invoices showing lab-ceiling work completed over a year ago, and descriptions of engineering controls for sulfur-dioxide feeders that staff said make atmospheric release physically unlikely when feeders are not in use (the plant has not fed SO2 in the press building since 2018).
The superintendent said the district had not seen OSHA follow-up correspondence as of the meeting and would provide updates to the board if OSHA responds further.
