California OSHA Finds Serious Health and Safety Violations at Los Angeles Area Carwash
Labor Desk
February 23, 2009
Health and Safety Experts Warn of Serious Risks to Carwash Workers of Heat Illness, Toxic Exposure, and Electrical Hazards.
Los Angeles – Cal/OSHA has issued $18,890 in citations for health and safety violations against the owners of Auto Spa Express Car Wash, located at 2028 W. Sunset Blvd in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. Four violations were classified as "serious" by Cal/OSHA, meaning there is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from the violation.
Cal/OSHA issued the citations the same day that the Los Angeles City Attorney filed criminal charges against the owners of four LA carwashes, Benny and Nisan Pirian. Both Auto Spa Express and the Pirian-owned carwashes have been targets of a consumer boycott by the CLEAN Carwash Campaign for their mistreatment of workers and violations of labor rights. Auto Spa Express is owned by Jonathan Min Kim, owner of two other area carwashes: Melrose Car Wash in Los Angeles and Bixby Knolls Car Wash in Long Beach. Cal/OSHA issued a dozen citations totaling nearly $12,000 in fines against the Bixby Knolls Car Wash in September 2008. Two serious violations cited at Bixby—for failure to maintain electrical equipment and inadequate protections for pulleys and belts—are similar to two of the serious violations just cited at Auto Spa Express.
Workers at Auto Spa Express filed a complaint with the agency in September, detailing serious health and safety hazards at the carwash. The carwash workers had received training and assistance with workplace health and safety issues from CLEAN (Community-Labor-Environmental Action Network), a coalition dedicated to raising labor, health and safety, and environmental standards throughout Los Angeles' carwash industry.
Linda Delp, Director of UCLA's Labor Occupational Safety and Health (LOSH) program and a member of CLEAN, said, "the State of California has again concluded that a carwash owner is seriously endangering the health and safety of his employees. These dangerous conditions should be remedied immediately. Several workers have already suffered serious injuries because of the violations cited by Cal/OSHA."
In October of 2008, workers and their supporters in the CLEAN Carwash Campaign announced that Auto Spa Express was also violating the City's Living Wage Ordinance, given that the City had a contract with the carwash to clean City vehicles dating back to August 2006. Workers filed wage claims with the City alleging they were not even being paid minimum wage, let alone LA's Living Wage of $11.25/hour. After investigating the workers' claims, the City canceled its contract with the carwash.
A carwash worker who blew the whistle and alerted officials about the wage violations and filed the Cal/OSHA complaint was fired by Auto Spa Express management the day after the Living Wage claim was announced publicly.
"The owners of Auto Spa Express have shown a repeated disregard for the law and workers' rights," said Henry Huerta, director of the CLEAN Carwash Campaign. "They have refused to pay their workers a living wage or even the minimum wage. They continue to put workers in physical danger at work. And they have fired workers who spoke out publicly about the deplorable conditions at the carwash. We will continue to support workers as they organize together to improve conditions in their workplace."
According to the citations issued last week, Cal/OSHA inspectors found the following serious safety hazards at Auto Spa Express:
Unguarded electric equipment operating in excess of 50 volts;
Ungrounded electrical plug;
Unguarded moving chain and sprocket drive attached to motor vehicle chain inside wash tunnel; and
Unguarded moving parts of belt and pulley drives.
Other violations include not providing requested documents to OSHA inspectors; lack of an Injury and Illness Prevention Program; lack of a Heat Illness Prevention and Training program; lack of a Respiratory Protection program; and lack of a Written Hazard Communication Program. In addition, OSHA inspectors conducted noise monitoring inside the carwash tunnel and vacuum area and found the noise was high enough to harm workers' hearing if they were exposed to it for 6 or more hours.
Workers in the carwash industry are regularly exposed to toxic chemicals in car cleaning products that are known by the state to cause cancer. Prolonged exposure to some of the chemicals found in LA carwashes can cause liver, kidney and heart, and central nervous system damage.
Because of widespread labor violations in the industry, a law was passed in 2003 to regulate this largely underground industry. The law, known as the Carwash Worker law, requires carwash businesses to register with the Labor Commissioner according to the California Labor Code. According to the Labor Commissioner's carwash registration database, neither Kim-owned carwashes in Los Angeles are registered. "We applaud the Labor Commissioner's efforts to clean up the carwash industry over the last several months, and encourage her to continue working towards regaining a lawful order in the industry and improve conditions for workers." said Lilia Garcia, Executive Director of Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund (MCTF).
Los Angeles – Cal/OSHA has issued $18,890 in citations for health and safety violations against the owners of Auto Spa Express Car Wash, located at 2028 W. Sunset Blvd in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. Four violations were classified as "serious" by Cal/OSHA, meaning there is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from the violation.
Cal/OSHA issued the citations the same day that the Los Angeles City Attorney filed criminal charges against the owners of four LA carwashes, Benny and Nisan Pirian. Both Auto Spa Express and the Pirian-owned carwashes have been targets of a consumer boycott by the CLEAN Carwash Campaign for their mistreatment of workers and violations of labor rights. Auto Spa Express is owned by Jonathan Min Kim, owner of two other area carwashes: Melrose Car Wash in Los Angeles and Bixby Knolls Car Wash in Long Beach. Cal/OSHA issued a dozen citations totaling nearly $12,000 in fines against the Bixby Knolls Car Wash in September 2008. Two serious violations cited at Bixby—for failure to maintain electrical equipment and inadequate protections for pulleys and belts—are similar to two of the serious violations just cited at Auto Spa Express.
Workers at Auto Spa Express filed a complaint with the agency in September, detailing serious health and safety hazards at the carwash. The carwash workers had received training and assistance with workplace health and safety issues from CLEAN (Community-Labor-Environmental Action Network), a coalition dedicated to raising labor, health and safety, and environmental standards throughout Los Angeles' carwash industry.
Linda Delp, Director of UCLA's Labor Occupational Safety and Health (LOSH) program and a member of CLEAN, said, "the State of California has again concluded that a carwash owner is seriously endangering the health and safety of his employees. These dangerous conditions should be remedied immediately. Several workers have already suffered serious injuries because of the violations cited by Cal/OSHA."
In October of 2008, workers and their supporters in the CLEAN Carwash Campaign announced that Auto Spa Express was also violating the City's Living Wage Ordinance, given that the City had a contract with the carwash to clean City vehicles dating back to August 2006. Workers filed wage claims with the City alleging they were not even being paid minimum wage, let alone LA's Living Wage of $11.25/hour. After investigating the workers' claims, the City canceled its contract with the carwash.
A carwash worker who blew the whistle and alerted officials about the wage violations and filed the Cal/OSHA complaint was fired by Auto Spa Express management the day after the Living Wage claim was announced publicly.
"The owners of Auto Spa Express have shown a repeated disregard for the law and workers' rights," said Henry Huerta, director of the CLEAN Carwash Campaign. "They have refused to pay their workers a living wage or even the minimum wage. They continue to put workers in physical danger at work. And they have fired workers who spoke out publicly about the deplorable conditions at the carwash. We will continue to support workers as they organize together to improve conditions in their workplace."
According to the citations issued last week, Cal/OSHA inspectors found the following serious safety hazards at Auto Spa Express:
Unguarded electric equipment operating in excess of 50 volts;
Ungrounded electrical plug;
Unguarded moving chain and sprocket drive attached to motor vehicle chain inside wash tunnel; and
Unguarded moving parts of belt and pulley drives.
Other violations include not providing requested documents to OSHA inspectors; lack of an Injury and Illness Prevention Program; lack of a Heat Illness Prevention and Training program; lack of a Respiratory Protection program; and lack of a Written Hazard Communication Program. In addition, OSHA inspectors conducted noise monitoring inside the carwash tunnel and vacuum area and found the noise was high enough to harm workers' hearing if they were exposed to it for 6 or more hours.
Workers in the carwash industry are regularly exposed to toxic chemicals in car cleaning products that are known by the state to cause cancer. Prolonged exposure to some of the chemicals found in LA carwashes can cause liver, kidney and heart, and central nervous system damage.
Because of widespread labor violations in the industry, a law was passed in 2003 to regulate this largely underground industry. The law, known as the Carwash Worker law, requires carwash businesses to register with the Labor Commissioner according to the California Labor Code. According to the Labor Commissioner's carwash registration database, neither Kim-owned carwashes in Los Angeles are registered. "We applaud the Labor Commissioner's efforts to clean up the carwash industry over the last several months, and encourage her to continue working towards regaining a lawful order in the industry and improve conditions for workers." said Lilia Garcia, Executive Director of Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund (MCTF).
Print
Email
