6 Employers Receive Cal-OSHA Citations for COVID-19 Violations
6 Bay Area Employers Fined for COVID-19 Violations
Oakland, California – Cal-OSHA has cited six Bay Area employers for failing to protect their employees from COVID-19.
The Santa Rosa Police Department, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and skilled nursing facilities were ordered to pay fines ranging from $2,060 to $32,000 for various health and safety violations including some classified as serious.
Cal-OSHA said the employers did not protect workers from exposure to COVID-19 after they failed to update their workplace safety plans and address hazards related to the virus.
The Santa Rosa Police Department got the highest amount of fines after three violations. Cal-OSHA said an officer at the department succumbed to coronavirus complications on March 31.
Officer Marylou Armer allegedly contracted COVID-19 at work after being exposed to a colleague who had known symptoms of coronavirus. She was the first police officer to have died of coronavirus in California. Several other officers at the department contracted the virus after Armer’s death.
“The Santa Rosa Police Department failed to implement required screening and referral procedures for persons exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms during the month of March 2020, and failed to report to Cal-OSHA multiple serious illnesses suffered by employees who contracted COVID-19,” the state agency said.
One of the other employers who were fined includes the Gateway Care and Rehabilitation Center in Hayward, where at least six patients died and more than 50 people tested positive for the virus. The others are Canyon Springs Post Acute healthcare center, the Ridge Post-Acute healthcare center and Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.
Sutter Bay Hospital at the CPMC Davies Campus in San Francisco was cited after Cal-OSHA determined that workers and security guards were not always wearing respiratory protection.
