Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

TheDudeMaintains t1_j5kzpo7 wrote

Hmm. My weed guy's never killed anyone, I think I'm gonna go ahead and keep my business with him.

15

gyokuro OP t1_j5k53qi wrote

Big shout out to Mike Crawford for making this story part of the national cannabis conversation through sheer force of will. Connecticut allowing Trulieve to grow their footprint here will only lead to more outcomes like this tragedy.

14

Green_House_57 t1_j5kamw3 wrote

This entire situation is appalling. Trulieve has been allowed to conduct their own study on workers safety, after their actions caused Lorna McMurray to die, in order to obtain a reduction in fines. "Pending the outcome of the study, Trulieve will design and implement a temporary information and training program ....." Just long enough to repair their image and not incur too much cost.

“At this time there is no disciplinary impact on Trulieve’s Connecticut license based on the settlement reached with OSHA,” Um. Ok. But I feel like maybe DCP is missing the point here. There should have been disciplinary impact on their CT license all along based on the POOR WORKER CONDITIONS REPORTED that ultimately resulted in the death of a human being!!

Anyway, good article. Thanks for sharing.

6

gyokuro OP t1_j5kc3qb wrote

The state only cares about Trulieve's money and nothing else …as they ship old products into CT.

6

AhbabaOooMaoMao t1_j5leji0 wrote

I'm not sure the DCP has any authority to take adverse government action against a business license based on the out-of-court settlement of non-serious and probably specious OSHA violations.

Here's an article by an OSHA lawyer on the citations and the settlement.

OSHA found the exposure to the Ground Cannabis Dust to be causally related to the death, but OSHA doesn't regulate Ground Cannabis Dust and probably cannot do so because it's federally illegal.

It's pretty normal to make the company start funding research the issue. OSHA doesn't have any leverage to force any other commercial grower to fund research, and their citations and jurisdiction in this case were pretty thin.

The settlement also includes:

>undertake a study to determine whether GCD qualifies as a “hazardous chemical” under OSHA hazard communications regulations;

>engage a health professional to develop a program that gives workers guidance on managing potential occupational health impacts from GCD exposure, including allergic sensitization;

>explore having NIOSH conduct an HHE;

>revise employment policies to include job transfer options;

>create an employee information and training program to inform workers about potential allergic sensitization, and its symptoms, from working with GCD in an occupational setting and steps employees should take if they experience such responses;

>investigate options for engineering controls, such as isolating commercial grinding areas and other locations with high GCD concentrations;

>establish a policy requiring the Holyoke facility to have at least one worker at every shift trained in first aid and AED use; and

>determine whether cannabis qualifies as a combustible dust and implement measures accordingly.

The article I linked notes:

>In the unlikely event Trulieve determines that commercially produced GCD meets the criteria for a hazardous chemical under OSHA’s regulations, then likely the entire industry will need to ensure their full compliance with all hazard communication requirements. But, even if Trulieve does not deem GCD a hazardous chemical, resolution of the Trulieve citation impacts all cannabis producers. Because the measures in the Trulieve settlement reflect (in part) OSHA’s expectations of reasonable safety measures that employers should be taking in this industry, we expect OSHA to use this settlement and HAL as a blueprint for establishing safety requirements for all cannabis producers.

1

gyokuro OP t1_j5ps5mb wrote

“It should be said that Leafly and other cannabis media platforms did not exactly step up, either. A cannabis worker died on the job and we knew nothing about it until Mike Crawford started talking about it eight months later on his podcast.

We pledge to do better."

1