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Unveiling landmark safety bill aimed at stemming deaths & rising injury numbers on WA state dairies pushed by UFW, state labor & faith groups

Unveiling landmark safety bill aimed at stemming deaths & rising injury numbers on WA state dairies pushed by UFW, state labor & faith groups

12 noon dairy worker vigil; 12:30 p.m. unveiling bill; 1:30 p.m. hearing before House Labor and Workplace Standards panel
Dairy workers, the United Farm Workers and state labor and faith groups will gather at 12 noon on Monday, Jan. 18 at the state Capitol in Olympia to announce introduction of House Bill 2484, a landmark dairy safety bill targeting deaths and rising injury rates on Washington state dairies. A vigil by dairy workers outside the Capitol starts at 12 noon, followed by a briefing on the measure by Rep. Brady Walkinshaw (D-Seattle) at 12:30 p.m. and a hearing on HB 2484 at 1:30 p.m. before the House Labor and Workplace Standards that will include testimony from dairy workers, UFW National Vice President Erik Nicholson, state labor council President Jeff Johnson, other union leaders, clergy and dairy industry officials.
  • HB 2484 would require the state Department of Labor & Industries to ensure every dairy is inspected at least once every three years for compliance with standards the agency would adopt to address specific health and safety issues and hazards. Currently, inspections are only required after a fatality.
  • HB 2484 would demand certification of health and safety training at all dairies, and would require at least one supervisor who has completed the training be present on site. Prior to his death, Randy Vasquez, 27, was last seen driving a front loader at 9 p.m. on Feb. 24, 2015 at a rural Mabton, Wash. dairy associated with the Darigold marketing cooperative. His body was found at 4:30 a.m. the next day, strapped to the machine six feet deep in a manure lagoon, where he drowned, that was neither fenced nor posted in violation of state requirements. There had been no safety training, and no one had searched for Vasquez when he didn’t return from his duties.
  • The UFW-backed bill would also ban discrimination or retaliation against dairy workers for reporting health and safety violations, and it would hike minimum penalties for willful violations of safety standards to $7,000, plus an additional $10,000 for willful violations resulting in a dairy employee’s death. Vasquez’s employer’s fine of $6,800 for multiple violations involving his death was reduced to $2,200 after the dairy appealed.[2]
One person is killed, on average, every 16 months at a Washington state dairy and an average of more than one dairy worker is injured per day, an injury rate nearly 40 percent higher than most private industries. The number of injuries has been rising. According to state data, 362 dairy workers were injured in 2009, 438 were hurt in 2013, and 444 were injured in 2014[3].
Who: State Rep. Brady Walkinshaw (D-Seattle), dairy workers, UFW National Vice President Erik Nicholson, state labor council President Jeff Johnson, leaders of other unions and faith groups.
What: Gathering to announce introduction of HB 2484, a landmark dairy safety bill followed by a hearing on the measure by the House Labor and Workplace Standards Committee.
When/Where:
  • 12 noon, Monday, Jan. 18, 2016—A vigil at the Sundial in Olympia with dairy workers holding a banner citing an average of one dairy worker injury each day.
  • 12:30p.m., Monday, Jan. 18, 2016—briefing on HB 2484 in state Capitol Room House Hearing D with the author, Rep. Brady Walkinshaw, UFW National Vice President Erik Nicholson, dairy workers & their supporters
  • 1:30 p.m., Monday, Jan. 18, 2016—Hearing on the bill in state Capitol Room House Hearing John L. O’Brien Room D before the House Labor and Workplace Standards Committee.
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