A former employee of Terra Garden, Chunli Zhao, is accused of shooting and killing four of his coworkers and then driving to nearby Concord Farms and killing three workers there. Zhao also previously worked at Concord Farms.
California Terra Garden is charged with 22 violations, totaling fines of $113,800 (PDF), including for failing to have a plan “to immediately notify employees of an active shooter threat and instruct them to seek shelter,” according to a Cal/OSHA press release.
Citations also show the farm failed to investigate one employee’s back injury and failed to provide handwashing stations at toilets, among numerous other safety violations.
Concord Farms Inc. was cited for 19 penalties, totaling fines of $51,770 (PDF). The violations include failure to “address previous incidents of workplace violence and develop procedures to correct and prevent this hazard,” the announcement reads.
Employers at Concord Farms were also cited for insects and rodents found in the workplace, water leakage in farmworker housing, and for failing to have proper precautions around heat exhaustion for employees.
The majority — 60% — of California’s agricultural workforce is made up of undocumented immigrants, according to data from the U.S. Department of Labor. For many, speaking out about inadequate or even dangerous work conditions can be difficult due to fear of deportation or other forms of retaliation in the workplace.
Shortly after the shooting, local and state leaders called out the unsafe conditions that farmworkers endure in California, including at the site of the mass shooting, which prompted workplace safety investigations.
“Some of you should see where these folks are living, the conditions they are living in, in shipping containers. Folks getting $9 an hour with no health care, no support, no services,” Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters in January. “But they’re taking care of our health and providing a service to us each and every day.”
Zhao admitted to the shooting, and told investigators that just prior to it his supervisor demanded he pay $100 of his own money to repair a forklift at work, the Bay Area News Group reported.
“The workers were living in very, very poor conditions. Some were in very old trailers and others were living in shacks without running water or electricity,” San Mateo District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe told KQED in January after the shooting. “Really a type of living circumstance that I don’t think any of us think should exist in this country.”
As of Monday, neither employer had yet appealed the citations. They have 15 days to file an appeal with the Appeals Board and 10 days to contact Cal/OSHA regarding an informal conference.
State-led investigations into the farms are ongoing and additional enforcement actions could follow.
