Fighting for Safe Jobs

When most people think of Los Angeles, they imagine it as a city largely devoted to entertainment. But Los Angeles County remains a major manufacturing hub and is home to the largest port in the United States. After World War II, heavy industries grew phenomenally—as did the risks to workers. By 1970, a campaign to protect workers on the job, in lockstep with the civil rights and environmental movements, had led to the passage of landmark federal laws including the Occupational Safety and Health Act. In 1973, California created the Division of Occupational Safety and Health—Cal/OSHA—a once robust and nationally recognized agency dedicated to protecting workers.

For this Alta Serial, writer Diane Factor looks back at her time as a Cal/OSHA inspector in the 1980s. A native Angelena, Factor was introduced through this job to the people who risked their lives to keep Los Angeles running, union organizers who sought better deals for workers, and the managers and owners of industrial operations who just wanted to keep the machines moving and the profits rolling in.

PART ONE: Welcome to Terminal Island

Factor finds herself visiting a scrap-metal plant on Terminal Island, a tuna-fishing colony turned industrial worksite. For the next six weeks, we’ll be sharing Factor’s story of what she and her fellow Cal/OSHA inspectors saw—and, more importantly, what they did—at this dirty, dangerous place at the far end of the continent.

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PART TWO: The Investigation Begins

Factor offers the history of Terminal Island in Los Angeles and recalls an explosion at the Hugo Neu–owned processing plant that galvanizes her to create change for the safety of the plant’s workers.

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PART THREE: Back to the Beginning

Factor explains how she went from a horseback-riding midcentury L.A. kid to a school bus driver and union advocate. Along the way, she sees the backlash against school integration in Pasadena, an experience that pushes her to further advocate for social justice.

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PART FOUR: Becoming a COSHista

Factor pursues her master’s in the Environmental and Occupational Health program at Cal State Northridge, and soon she finds herself working for Cal/OSHA. There she discovers a community of like-minded colleagues and learns the ropes of how to investigate safety violations in different industries.

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PART FIVE: After the Explosion

Factor leaves California to go work for the AFL-CIO.

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CODA: Return to Terminal Island

In 2023, Factor returns to the site of the Hugo Neu-Proler plant to see what has changed in 40 years.

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