Blood and syringes: Caltrans fined after union complaint over homeless camp cleanups
Union complaints over homeless camp cleanup led California’s workplace safety enforcer to fine the state’s transportation department, the department’s union announced Wednesday.
The International Union of Operating Engineers filed a complaint with CalOSHA in November as part of broader effort to prod Caltrans into adding protections for workers who clean up human waste, used feminine hygiene products and needles when they clear homeless camps under bridges and along roadways, said Steve Crouch, the union’s director of public employees.
“This is not in their job specifications,” Crouch said. “Caltrans workers were hired to maintain the highways and bridges.”
The union’s CalOSHA complaint said Caltrans District 3 workers lacked blood borne pathogen training and the equipment they needed to clean up homeless camps safely under the Vietnam Veterans Bridge on U.S. Highway 50 in Placerville.
Read more: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article230195159.html
(Sacramento Bee)
