Inspection Detail

Inspection: 300799855 - Sunny Cal Farms

Inspection Information - Office: Fresno District Office

Investigation Summary

On August 5, 2000, Employee #1 and 19 coworkers were in a cold storage facility used to recondition fruit. They had begun that morning in cold storage room # 3, and continued throughout the day. At approximately 5:00 p.m., Employee #1 drove a propane-fired forklift into the room to pull out pallets of empty boxes. He worked with the forklift in the room for at least an hour. When the first employees began to complain of headaches, the night foreman provided aspirin. Then other employees became nauseated and began vomiting. Emergency services was called and EMS personnel quickly identified the cause of the illness. A firefighter collected an air sample with a direct reading instrument and found a carbon monoxide level of approximately 70 ppm. The company undertook immediate remedial action by instructing employees to use only electric forklifts in the cold storage rooms, and by installing carbon monoxide detectors in room # 3. The level of illness experienced by the employees, and the observations of the firefighter, indicated that the employees were exposed to excessive amounts of carbon monoxide. The cold storage room was designed to maintain a steady temperature without the introduction of fresh air. Vent fans were installed but were not in use because pulling air into the cold rooms would have dropped the temperature below the required 60 to 70 degrees F. At the time of the accident, the room had no general ventilation. Although this conditions had been rectified by the time of the inspection, the employer was cited for a serious, accident-related violation of T8CCR 5155(c)(1)(a).

Keywords: VENTILATION, WORK RULES, INHALATION, INDUSTRIAL TRUCK, EXHAUST FUMES, CHEMICAL VAPOR, POISONING, OVEREXPOSURE, CARBON MONOXIDE, CHEMICAL