CHP Cracking Down on Vehicles Transporting Farm Laborers

Lifting a cover in the back of the empty bus as if he were taking a lid off a crock pot, the inspector in the blue CHP coveralls wrinkled his nose.

“This can cause carbon monoxide poisoning,” said Ernest Benavides, examining the unsealed hole under a back seat in the bus used daily to transport up to 47 farm laborers to and from Inland Empire fields.

Crawling underneath the same bus in the Riverside CHP parking lot, Benavides found another problem: leakage in the exhaust system that allows more deadly gas to seep into the passenger compartment.

The inspector found the exhaust problems to be serious enough to put the bus out of service, meaning that the vehicle cannot transport passengers until the problems are fixed.

In the wake of the tragic crash that killed 13 Central Valley farm workers this month, the Saturday inspection was part of the California Highway Patrol’s stepped-up efforts to improve the safety of the buses and vans that carry laborers.

Last week, officers around the state conducted sweeps, making surprise safety inspections and citing violators.

On Saturday, the CHP in the Inland Empire followed up by holding a voluntary inspection day, which gave owners the chance to submit to safety checks without fear of punishment, as long as they correct any problems found.

Rather than issue a citation for violations, inspectors told the bus owners to fix the trouble, and followed with a handshake.

“With the unfortunate incident in the Central Valley, we owe it to the people that the vehicles they are carried in are safe and that they’re properly inspected,” said CHP Capt. Mark Schock.

Of the nine buses and vans taken to CHP parking lots Saturday in Riverside or San Bernardino, inspectors found enough violations to put four out of service, said Officer Robert L. Velasco.

In one van, Riverside inspectors discovered an oil-soaked brake shoe, which impedes the vehicle’s ability to stop. They also found that the van lacked a safety strap for its drive shaft. “If it falls, it can disable the vehicle and cause a serious accident,” said Officer James Fonseca.

Inspectors deemed the van so dangerous that they wouldn’t let it be driven away. The driver could have it towed back to the company’s yard, or call for a mechanic to fix it on the spot, inspectors said. The driver opted for the latter.

The bus with the carbon monoxide problem was allowed to be driven away for repairs because the fume seepage was in the rear, far from the driver.

“We like these inspections, even if we have little problems. It’s safer for everybody,” said Octavio Cardenas, owner of the offending bus, as well as a former school bus a few yards away that was given a clean bill of health. “We’re going back to the shop and we fix everything right now.”

Inspectors explained that mechanical problems can cause accidents outright or exacerbate injuries when there is a collision.

Though state law requires inspections of farm worker transport vehicles every 13 months, the heavily used ones can still fall out of compliance in the interim.

The van that collided with a tractor-trailer in a rural part of Fresno County on Aug. 9 had been inspected in 1997. Investigators were uncertain whether it had been inspected since. The wreckage showed that the farm workers had been sitting on unbolted benches and not wearing seat belts. The driver was unlicensed.

As jobs go, farm work is among the most deadly because of the transportation hazards, experts say. In California, farm workers are four times more likely to die from a work-related accident or injury than employees of other occupations, said Marc Schenker, professor of medicine and director of the Agricultural Health and Safety Center at UC Davis. “The majority are motor vehicle related,” he said.