The University of California system had 115 Occupational Safety and Health Administration incidents and received 142 violations from 2016-2026. UC Santa Barbara received one violation during this period.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is an agency within the United States Department of Labor and serves as a workplace safety and health enforcement program. OSHA was established in the early 1970s with the stated goal of ensuring that “America’s workers have safe and healthful working conditions free from unlawful retaliation.”
From 2016 to 2026, the University of California (UC) system saw 115 cases and 142 violations, with peaks in violations in 2020 and 2024. Out of the 14 incidents that took place in 2020, six were COVID-19 related. In the past 10 years, only three years have had more incidents than violations; however 2025 and 2026 still have pending cases. On average, there are 10 cases and 13 violations per year. (Malia Guy / Daily Nexus)
Those at UC Santa Barbara who have an OSHA-related problem can contact Environmental Health & Safety (EHS). UCSB Media Relations Manager Kiki Reyes explained EHS’s purpose in a statement to the Nexus.
“The EHS team is the primary point of contact for OSHA-related matters, including onsite inspections,” Reyes wrote. “[They] typically escort the OSHA officer conducting the inspection, work with stakeholders to provide any requested information and documentation as part of the inspection, and, if deficiencies are noted during the inspection, collaborate with the involved unit to address any concerns.”
An employee can file a complaint if there is a hazard or if OSHA rules are not being complied with at their place of employment. However, complaints aren’t the only types of cases. Other case types include accidents, fatalities/catastrophes, planned, unprogrammed related, referrals and follow-ups.
The most common type of incident is accidents, constituting over 50% of the cases. Accidents deal with serious injury or illness and have to be reported by the employer. (Malia Guy / Daily Nexus)
Among health and safety cases across University of California (UC) entities, around 40% are health-related and 60% are safety-related. Health cases usually involve illness while safety cases typically involve a physical injury.
Not all entities are listed (like UC Riverside) because some entities have not had any incidents in the last 10 years. Out of 115 incidents, 48 are health related and 67 are safety related. UC Regents have a majority of the incidents because they cover multiple addresses and are connected to multiple campuses. (Malia Guy | Daily Nexus)
According to Reyes, methods of prevention can vary for different incident types.
“In general, safety hazard prevention is primarily focused on preventing acute injuries, such as those related to falls, contact with energized equipment, etc.,” Reyes said. “Health hazard prevention focuses on the recognition, evaluation, control, and confirmation of environmental factors or stresses that may cause illness or impaired health (examples include respiratory exposures, needlestick injuries, and repetitive trauma).”
UCSB is legally required to inform employees, including student workers, of their safety rights, responsibilities and resources. This is accomplished through the University’s assigned employee trainings, including the Injury & Illness Prevention plan.
Third-year economics major Aleezay Raheel has worked as a desk attendant at the De Anza Resource Center for three years. Raheel explained the extent of the trainings she has completed for her job.
“[I] had online trainings,” Raheel said. “There were at least five, and some of them did overlap with the ones that you have to do as a student, like illness and safety and disease prevention.”
A rule Raheel recalls from her training is to wear closed-toed shoes “at all times” in case she needs to “immediately get somewhere.”
“I think the training that I received, I’ve really built on it in all my years here,” Raheel said. “All the training that I do receive I think is very pertinent to my job, and I use it everyday.”
Sometimes, OSHA doesn’t have jurisdiction to pursue a case. In 2019, a UC Los Angeles student received burns at a campus chemical laboratory, but because the affected individual was a student, OSHA concluded that they could not pursue the case.
The state of California has its own enforcement program called California OSHA (Cal/OSHA). It serves as a state-administered plan and retains most of the same rules as OSHA. It has unique standards in regards to areas like agriculture and noise exposure. Anything unaddressed in Cal/OSHA’s plan is handled by federal OSHA.
Katherine Wzorek, a public information officer for the Department of Industrial Relations, which Cal/OSHA falls under, explained who the agency covers in a statement to the Nexus.
“Cal/OSHA regulations cover almost all employees and workplaces in California, including private-sector and public-sector employers and workers,” Wzorek wrote. “Coverage applies wherever there is an employer–employee relationship. Individuals who are not employees, such as students, volunteers, or independent contractors are generally not covered unless they meet the legal definition of an employee.”
Even though students who are not employed by the University aren’t eligible to file with OSHA, they are still protected by OSHA policies.
“[The Department of EHS] is focused on the health and well-being of everyone on campus, including staff, faculty, students, guests, and visitors,” Reyes said. “For example, laboratory safety requirements such as personal protective equipment, training, etc., extend to anyone working in that laboratory.”
Some cases have no violations, while other cases can have several. According to OSHA, a violation occurs when an employer willfully or constantly neglects their duties outlined in the OSH Act of 1970. There are four types of violations: willful, serious, repeated and other-than-serious.
Only one of the 142 violations received by the UC system between 2016-2026 has occurred at UCSB. The incident happened in 2017, and the only record available indicates it was a safety-related accident. The penalty was an $18,000 fine paid by the employer, which in this case is the university.
Fourth-year English major Skylar Roberts-Vermillo has worked at the MultiCultural Center for two years and spoke about his job.
“It’s not hard to believe that, at least specifically where I work, there hasn’t been a single OSHA violation in years,” Roberts-Vermillo said. “I would like to say that we are very mindful and conscious of everybody’s well-being and health as workers but also for the people, the students and the community we serve on campus.”
Cases can span years depending on if appeals are submitted. For example, there is an active case from UC San Diego Health which took place in 2018. Currently, the UC system has 22 open cases.
“The length of a Cal/OSHA case depends on the complexity of the investigation,” Wzorek wrote. “Cal/OSHA generally has up to six months to complete an inspection and issue citations.”
In total, the current penalties for all the UCs amount to $439,756. These fines are paid by the university that received the violation, but are separate from payment to impacted employees through worker’s compensation.
“Worker’s Compensation provides oversight to the state-mandated insurance plan designed to provide benefits and assistance to all workers who are injured as a result of their employment or who develop job-related illnesses,” Reyes said.
Resources for reporting an OSHA-related incident can be found on the EHS website.
A version of this article appeared on p. 13 of the May 7 print edition of the Daily Nexus.
