Bio-Technology Awareness

This letter informed complainant of action taken against Agraquest [AQ] by the Department of Industrial Relations - OSHA at AQ's  2nd location on Drew Avenue and not where David Bell got so sick.  

Why would the California Department of Industrial Relations Division of Occupational Safety and Health feel it was "occupationally safe" for a research and development laboratory, which had 20,000 microorganisms from all over the world, to merely meet "minimum Cal/OSHA standards of many safety and health issues"? 

Mirrored here for historical purposes: http://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/establishment.inspection_detail?id=125709444
Inspection: 125709444 - Agraquest Inc.

NOTE:  It is quite concerning that the California Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Occupational Safety and Health felt there wasn't a need to list a "Haz Category" [Hazard Category] in the above right hand corner of the above form when in research and development lab of AQ  does fall within the scope of GUIDANCE FOR HAZARD DETERMINATION; FOR COMPLIANCE WITH THE OSHA HAZARD COMMUNICATION STANDARD (29 CFR 1910.1200), U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration under "How Will I Know if My Chemical is "Hazardous"?"

QUOTE: Under the HCS, any chemical that presents a physical hazard or a health hazard is considered a hazardous chemical. The HCS definitions for physical and health hazards are:

Health hazard means a chemical for which there is statistically significant evidence based on at least one study conducted in accordance with established scientific principles that acute or chronic health effects may occur in exposed employees. The term "health hazard" includes chemicals which are carcinogens, toxic or highly toxic agents, reproductive toxins, irritants, corrosives, sensitizers, hepatotoxins, nephrotoxins, neurotoxins, agents which act on the hematopoietic system, and agents which damage the lungs, skin, eyes, or mucous membranes.

These different types of hazards identified in the HCS are presented in Table 1.
Table 1. HCS Listed Hazard Categories

Health Hazards; Systemic Effects - Carcinogen, Toxic agent, Highly toxic agent, Corrosive, Irritant, Sensitizer
Target Organ Effects; Hepatotoxin, Nephrotoxin, Neurotoxin, Blood/hematopoietic toxin, Respiratory toxin,  Reproductive toxin, Cutaneous hazard, Eye hazard

For a hazard determination to be complete, one must consider all possible hazards, and document any hazards that are identified. While the hazards listed in the HCS represent the majority of potential workplace hazards, the list is not all-inclusive, especially for health hazards. Table 2 is a list of important health hazards that should be evaluated in addition to those specifically listed by the HCS. In conducting the hazard determination, one should be cognizant of all types of physical and health hazards.

Table 2. Other Important Health Hazards

**Doesn't the California Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Occupational Safety and Health feel there would indeed be a health hazard given the fact that they cited and fined AQ for "several illegal chemical fumehoods"?  Does the agency feel there is not a reason the chemical fume hoods are at the location in the first place... for safety?

How then is the California Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Occupational Safety and Health protecting the employees within the state of California?

SIC Description for 8731 

Description for 8731: Commercial Physical and Biological Research

• Agricultural research,
• Biological research commercial
• Chemical laboratories, commercial research except testing (?)
• Engineering laboratories, commercial research: except testing (?)
• Food research commercial
• Industrial laboratories commercial research: except testing (?)
• Physical research commercial
• Research and development physical and biological: commercial