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Fire department avoids $55,000 in safety fines
by Jason Dietrich
Workplace safety inspectors agreed to drop more than $55,000 in fines against the Redondo Beach Fire Department for 26 safety violations found earlier this year.
The violations, issued by the California Division of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on May 1, were withdrawn or downgraded after the fire department contested the fines and made $15,000 in upgrades and repairs
The agreement, which still has to be finalized by the Cal-OSHA appeals board, kept the department from being fined under a new law that gives safety officials the power to fine cities for code violations. The fire department was visited by Cal-OSHA inspectors on Feb. 25, 2000. Inspectors found six serious violations which accounted for $44,100 of the $55,760 in fines.
"Serious violations are those that can lead to serious physical harm or death of an employee. From our standpoint, serious violations like these are egregious," said Cal-OSHA inspector Dean Fryer shortly after the fines were issued.
A three-story tower used to hang fire hoses to dry was the source of more than half of the fines. A ladder without a safety cage, a catwalk without a toe guard and a lamp without a safety cover leading to $9,000 fines each, were all repaired. Ladder rungs that were an inch too close together and an inch too close to the wall on the 40-year-old tower were also moved out to comply with the safety code.
Other fines resulted from firefighters becoming separated in burning buildings, not having proper procedures for accidental needle sticks and not wearing hardhats while hanging wet hoses to dry. ER