California Division Of Occupational Safety And Health

State regulators performed a shoddy investigation and let UCLA off too lightly for violations stemming from a chemistry lab fire that killed a staff research assistant, the victim's family contends in papers filed with Cal-OSHA and the Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board. Sheri Sangji, 23, suffered severe burns over 43% of her body when an experiment with air-sensitive chemicals burst into flame Dec. 29 and ignited her clothing.

The head of California's Division of Occupational Safety and Health said Monday he will personally oversee a "rigorous and effective" criminal investigation into the Dec. 29 chemistry lab fire that killed a UCLA staff research assistant. Cal/OSHA Chief Len Welsh's pledge came after a civil probe last month resulted in one regulatory and three "serious" violations, and fines totaling $31,875. The family of the research assistant, Sheri Sangji, had criticized the review as inadequate.

Scaled Composites, the fledgling space tourism company founded by rocket pioneer Burt Rutan, was fined $25,870 on Friday as a result of an accident last July that killed three workers at the firm's Mojave, Calif., testing facility. The fine covered five violations of workplace safety codes, including a failure to maintain a safe working environment and to properly train workers handling hazardous materials, according to the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health.

After a second day of discussions with SeaWorld officials, Cal/OSHA on Friday agreed to withdraw a report that predicted that a trainer at the park will someday be killed by a killer whale. The agency agreed to rewrite it's investigators' report to stick to only the facts of a Nov. 29 incident in which a whale dragged a trainer to the bottom of the pool at Shamu Stadium several times before he escaped.

The February fire that killed two workers remodeling a house near UCLA resulted from a painting contractor's serious lapses in job safety, state investigators have concluded. Cal/OSHA officials said this week that they have filed three civil citations against the Beverly Hills contractor, Alan Silverstein Inc. The most serious citation said the employer failed to vent "flammable vapors" from the crawl space under the home where the two employees were trapped by flames.

In what may be the first action of its kind, California workplace safety regulators have charged that the duties performed by housekeepers at a hotel -- scrubbing, bed making, vacuuming -- violate the state's repetitive-motion rules. A citation issued late last month by the Division of Occupational Safety and Health identified eight infractions at the Hilton Los Angeles Airport hotel.

The deaths of three ski patrol members at Mammoth Mountain earlier this year might have been prevented had resort officials properly trained employees, posted more warning signs and written procedures for how to deal with toxic volcanic vents, state regulators said Friday.

Rosa Frias was working the evening shift at Bimbo Bakeries in South San Francisco when she reached into her bread-making machine to remove a hunk of dried dough. She screamed as her left hand, and then her lower arm, were sucked into the gears of the Winkler stringline proofer. That night, the limb had to be amputated above the elbow. The incident drew a $21,750 fine from the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health. But Bimbo paid nothing. It appealed to the Cal-OSHA Appeals Board, which dismissed the case on a technicality: The inspector had retired and Cal-OSHA could not prove that he had had permission to enter the factory.

The safety manager at Disneyland is a top contender to run the state agency that enforces amusement park safety laws -- a possibility that is prompting concern among industry watchdogs. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to name Richard Warner as director of the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health as early as this week, according to sources inside the agency.

Cal/OSHA said Thursday it had fined two Los Angeles-area adult film companies $30,560 each for allegedly allowing actors to perform unprotected sex, the first time the state agency has taken regulatory action against the porn industry. The citations against Evasive Angles and TTB Productions, which share the same Van Nuys address, come six months after an HIV outbreak involving four actors prompted a temporary shutdown of adult film production in Southern California.