Valley Transportation Authority is fined

Cal/OSHA charges agency failed to implement a safety plan during coronavirus pandemic

The state’s workplace safety watchdog has fined the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority a total of $16,200 for COVID-19 health and safety violations, months after the death of a bus driver who contracted the virus.

California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, often referred to as Cal/OSHA, issued two citations to VTA on March 2, claiming the transportation agency failed to “effectively implement and maintain its Injury and Illness Prevention Program” during the pandemic.

VTA “did not require or ensure the use of face coverings at all times by employees at the facility and while operating the buses,” the citations allege.

The agency also “did not provide effective training and instruction to employees,” the state said, including about “how the virus is spread and measures to avoid infection, the signs and symptoms of infection, and the employer’s procedure to control transmission in the workplace.”

The citations, each with a fine of $8,100 attached, were the result of inspections Cal/OSHA conducted between early September, and late February. The state agency categorized both violations as “serious.” The fines were first reported by television station KTVU.

In October, 53-year-old Audrey Lopez, a San Jose resident and VTA operator for more than 13 years, passed away after a lengthy battle with COVID-19, becoming the first VTA employee to die from the virus. She contracted it in late August, officials said.

While the VTA contends Lopez did not contract coronavirus on the job — noting that she followed safety protocols and wore protective equipment — John Courtney, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, told this news organization previously that he disputed that claim.

Bus operators such as Lopez in

teract with countless passengers each day, Courtney said, and “all she did was go back and forth from work.”

Another VTA employee, 63-year-old Jon Finister of San Jose, a mechanic, died on March 1, after calling off of work with COVID symptoms in February, Courtney said Monday in an interview.

“Jon was known as a hard worker with a great sense of humor and he will be sadly missed by all,” a tribute on the union’s website said.

Finister and Lopez were both among “the most diligent when it came to following safety protocols,” Courtney said. Of the agency, he said: “I’m not surprised that they got fined.”

Brandi Childress, a spokesperson for VTA, said in an emailed statement to this news organization that she couldn’t comment on the specifics of the allegations in the citations because the agency is appealing them.

“However, VTA is confident in the comprehensive actions it has taken to date to keep its employees and customers safe and informed during this very challenging time,” Childress said. “Losing members of our work family to this pandemic has been extremely difficult.

“We remain committed to maintaining our vigilance and doing all we can to slow the spread of this virus.”

Courtney said he thinks VTA “dropped the ball” with COVID because they were slow to alert employees and the unions about new cases, and he claims they didn’t use properly trained contact tracers to follow the possible path of inspection when people fell ill.

“The contact tracing that VTA did was absolutely horrible,” he said.

“They just used internal supervisors…. they never took it any further than that,” he said.

He said Monday that between the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, through early February of this year, there have been about 180 VTA employees who fell ill with the virus.

“They like to blame employees for not wearing our masks, or say maybe we weren’t social distancing in the yard, but the bottom line is, it took VTA a long time to do the right thing with COVID,” he said. “Without the proper training you can’t blame the folks for not doing the right thing,”

Courtney noted that the relationship between his union and the administration of VTA has improved in recent weeks, with more collaboration and communication around vaccination plans and schedules.