California’s workplace safety agency is facing renewed scrutiny over its handling of three worker deaths at the same San Leandro metal recycling company.

Assemblymember Liz Ortega, whose district includes Alco Iron & Metal, sharply criticized Cal/OSHA over what she says has been a failure to deliver accountability for the deaths of Luis Guerrero, Ray Alfaro and Alberto Anaya.

“Cal/OSHA is a disgraceful agency,” Ortega told KTVU FOX 2 News. “I have three dead men in my district waiting for justice. And unfortunately, justice doesn’t seem to be coming anytime soon.”

The three men died while working for Alco in separate incidents across almost eight years. Anaya was killed in June 2017 when a screw conveyor collapsed; Alfaro was killed by a bundle of copper wire in March 2022; and Guerrero was crushed by a forklift in January 2025. In Addition to the three employees killed, Cal/OSHA records show 64 citations resulting from 22 state inspections dating back to 1991 at Alco. Twelve of those violations were "serious," and six were "willful.”

Garrett Brown, a former Cal/OSHA field inspector, said Alco has "a total cavalier attitude towards the health and safety of their employees. These people have been bad actors for 30 years. In the 20-odd years that I worked in the field, this is clearly the employer with the worst record." 

Cal/OSHA assessed nearly $160,000 in penalties connected to the three deaths, but much of that remains unresolved or has been reduced. The $95,000 penalty associated with Guerrero’s death and the $18,000 penalty connected to Alfaro’s death are being contested. Of the approximately $45,000 originally assessed following Anaya’s death, an administrative law judge ultimately left only about $7,000 in penalties. 

The situation added urgency to Ortega’s Assembly Bill 2321, legislation enacted by the governor to strengthen the handling of serious workplace safety cases and the referral of potential criminal violations for prosecution. The legislation comes amid longstanding concerns about Cal/OSHA’s enforcement capacity. A state audit identified understaffing as a root cause of problems within the agency.

Ortega, however, argues that staffing alone does not explain the failures.

“This is about taking accountability,” she said. “And right now, this department is not doing its job.”

For injured workers and their families, workplace safety enforcement cannot end with citations that take years to resolve, or penalties that become another cost of doing business. Three workers at the same employer lost their lives, yet years after the first death, their families are still waiting for the accountability the workplace safety system is supposed to provide.

California workers deserve an enforcement system that acts quickly when lives are lost, holds employers accountable when violations occur, and ensures that serious cases do not disappear into years of administrative delay.

This opinion by the California Applicants' Attorneys Association communications team is republished, with permission, from the CAAA website.