County Criticized Over Death at Dam : Safety: A state lawmaker calls the fatality outrageous in view of ‘lavish expenditures’ elsewhere.

State Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles) criticized Los Angeles County on Friday for allowing the unsafe working conditions that contributed to the death of a worker who fell from Pacoima Dam in June.

Torres said the death of Mario Sanchez was especially outrageous because of recent disclosures that the county has spent millions of dollars on bonuses, office furnishings and other “lavish expenditures” while making budget cuts elsewhere.

“Now we see what the impacts of these cutbacks are,” he said. He also said that state investigators should have conducted a more aggressive review of the incident.

Torres spoke at a news conference at the headquarters of the county Chicano Employees Assn. in East Los Angeles. He joined the family and co-workers of Sanchez, the 30-year-old flood-control worker who plunged down a sheer rock face next to the dam June 4 when a safety rope snapped as he was clearing brush.

“County management has showered itself with retreats and bonuses . . . while the basic safety needs of the people who work for the county are not met,” said Rees Lloyd, an attorney working with the Sanchez family. “They have shown callous indifference to blue-collar workers.”

Critics of the county said Friday that another factor in Sanchez’s death may have been a budget-related reduction in the number of qualified hoist operators, which they said resulted in an untrained worker operating the hoist at the time of the accident.

In July, Cal/OSHA, the state workplace safety agency, hit the county with six safety citations after investigating the incident. The violations included using a hoisting device not designated for lifting workers and failing to provide backup safety rigging.

The county has appealed the citations. A spokeswoman for the Department of Public Works, which runs the dam, said Friday that officials could not comment because of the pending litigation.

The Sanchez family has filed a workers’ compensation claim against the county alleging misconduct and negligence by Sanchez’s supervisors and county safety officials. The district attorney’s office also is investigating the matter. Spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said Friday that a decision on whether to file charges in the case is expected within a month.

Torres and other critics expressed concern Friday about statements by Sanchez’s co-workers alleging that the Cal/OSHA probe was timid. Several county employees have said repeatedly in recent months that county officials had been warned about unsafe hoisting operations but did nothing. They also say state investigators have not interviewed them about the safety allegations.

The state ruled that safety violations at the dam were serious but not willful. Torres said he will ask Cal/OSHA officials about those findings, which Sanchez’s lawyers contend contradict the statements of workers who say county officials ignored their repeated warnings.