N. Hollywood T-Shirt Firm Appeals $51,000 in Safety Fines

A small North Hollywood T-shirt firm is appealing $51,000 in fines imposed by state job safety officials after the company allegedly ignored orders to inform employees about hazardous chemicals on the job.

Cal/OSHA officials cited Great Media Works Inc. in January for failing to establish an injury prevention program, failing to inform its workers about dangerous chemicals in the workplace and failing to train them to use a respirator.

But another inspection in September revealed the same violations as well as new ones, Cal/OSHA said.

The firm, which employs about a dozen people, many of them low-income Latinos, produces silk-screened T-shirts. Dangerous substances such as inks and solvents are used in the process, Cal/OSHA said.

Rick Smith, owner of Great Media Works, acknowledged that he had not complied with state regulations at the time of the first inspection but was trying to when the company was reinspected. He said he has since corrected all the problems.

Smith said he will be forced out of business if he has to pay the fines.

“I’ve got people back there who depend on this job to feed their babies . . . I can’t afford the fines. I can’t afford $10,000. I can’t afford $5,000,” he said.

Cal/OSHA said it inspected Great Media Works in December, 1991, and found 18 violations of state safety laws.

The agency ordered the problems corrected by February, but determined in March that eight violations still were “not fully abated.”

Cal/OSHA reinspected the firm in September, citing Great Media for not correcting four violations. Inspectors also reported finding two new violations.

One of the new alleged violations was failure to provide proper protective gloves to workers handling GB1000, a stain remover that can be absorbed through the skin and has been found to cause liver and kidney damage in laboratory animals.

Smith complained that the Cal/OSHA official who inspected his business in September was “very vindictive” and ignored evidence that he was trying to correct the problems.

Richard Stephens, a Cal/OSHA spokesman, said the fines represent “a large amount of money” but noted that Cal/OSHA sharply increased its penalty schedule in June to conform with similar increases adopted by the federal OSHA.