Callahan & Blaine

California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal OSHA) announced that it has fined the Desert Sands Unified School District $7,700 for the electrocution death of a worker in 2009. A California man was killed on the job while working on the school district’s irrigation system in Indio, near Palm Springs. James Jeffredo, a fifty-year-old sprinkler system specialist, was electrocuted while checking a water pump.

The original citation stated that Jeffredo “had not been trained properly to do the electrical work and the district had not provided and required the use of safety items.”

Before his death, Jeffredo repeatedly requested that the school district hire an outside contractor to do the required electrical work on the water pump motors. Jeffredo apparently did not feel qualified to perform the job that subsequently killed him.

Cal OSHA investigated six citations pertaining to the accident. The initial fine was $44,000, but it was reduced to just $7,700 after the investigation. The fine was lessened in part because the school district voluntarily adopted measures to improve safety.

The resolution of this case comes only a week after OSHA released an investigation into 25 state and regional OSHA programs. The report criticized Cal OSHA, stating that the organization’s appeal process is not in line with federal precedent.

Callahan & Blaine, California’s Premier Litigation Firm, is one of the leading catastrophic injury firms in the state of California. In fact, in the last five years alone our lawyers have obtained over $1.2 billion in verdicts and settlements, including a $7 million settlement for a cyclist who was left with a traumatic brain injury after being struck by a newspaper delivery truck, and a $7.25 million settlement in a case when a man was run over trying to board a city bus in Orange County, California.

Our success in litigating and negotiating personal injury cases comes from our uncommon approach; we handle each personal injury case as though it were a complex business litigation case, attacking it from every angle possible. While our firm is located in Orange County, California, we handle serious personal injury, wrongful death and product liability cases nationwide.

If you or someone you know has suffered a catastrophic injury or died as the result of an workplace accident, please contact our California law firm for expert legal counsel.