Safeway Tracy Cited $182,000: Indoor Heat, Quotas, and What Warehouse Workers Can Do

DIR News Release 2025-02 (January 7, 2025) says Cal/OSHA cited Safeway $182,000 in proposed penalties for 27 violations, including eight serious, at the Northern California Tracy Distribution Center — Safeway’s largest warehouse in the country. About 1,700 workers. High Hazard Unit – North ran the inspection.

OSHA’s public inspection detail (1758269.015) lists initial and current penalties of $182,100. DIR rounded in the press release. Use DIR’s $182,000 when you quote the release; use $182,100 when you quote the inspection table. Do not invent a third number.

Every item is marked C – Contested, contest date March 11, 2025. The case is OPEN. Proposed penalties can move.

What Cal/OSHA issued

Inspection opened June 26, 2024, 16900 W Schulte Rd., Tracy. Planned, complete, High Hazard Unit, indoor-heat NEP. Close conference December 23, 2024 — the issuance date. Union shop. NAICS 493110.

DIR’s release grouped the problems this way. That grouping is the news release, not a substitute for the Title 8 list:

• Manual material handling: lifting, carrying, and moving heavy items; no effective training for supervisors or workers on those hazards.
• Recordkeeping: inaccurate annual injury and illness summaries; delayed production of records to Cal/OSHA.
• Indoor heat in the dry building, which is not temperature-controlled: no effective procedures, no effective training, no proper cool-down areas for meal breaks.
• Chemical and health: inadequate ventilation or exhaust for welding in two buildings; deficient eyewash and safety-shower access where employees handled corrosives.
• Electrical: damaged cords and unsafe panelboards.
• Industrial truck operators: no effective refresher training and evaluations.

Cal/OSHA Chief Debra Lee, in the release: warehouse quotas put workers at risk of serious injury.

OSHA’s citation table is the Title 8 source. Eight serious items (do not collapse them into DIR’s prose):

• Title 8 §2484.006 — $13,500 (electrical).
• Title 8 §3203(a)(6) — $25,000 (IIPP: methods to correct unsafe conditions, including removing exposed personnel from an imminent hazard).
• Title 8 §3203(a)(7) — $25,000 (IIPP training).
• Title 8 §3396(d)(1) — $25,000 (indoor heat: cool-down areas). Indoor heat prevention is §3396. It applies where indoor temperature is 82°F or more when employees are present, with tighter control measures at 87°F (or 82°F with heat-restrictive clothing or high radiant heat).
• Title 8 §3578(g) — $9,000.
• Title 8 §4050(a) — $18,000 (unguarded shafting, collars, clutches, and couplings seven feet or less above the working level).
• Title 8 §5162(c) — $22,500 (eyewash and shower location: reachable in no more than 10 seconds, unobstructed).
• Title 8 §5185(n) — $25,000.

Nineteen “other” items make up the rest of the $182,100, including indoor-heat plan and training subsections of §3396(e)(1), (h)(1), and (i); industrial trucks §3668(d); electrical; and recordkeeping. All contested.

High Hazard Unit

This was a High Hazard Unit – North programmed inspection, not a random drop-in. The Unit targets employers and industries with elevated DART rates, workers’ compensation losses, and citation history (Labor Code §6314.1). Warehousing shows up on those lists for a reason.

What you can do next

1. Get the inspection file. Public Records Act, Government Code Division 10 (commencing with §7920.000). Ten-day clock, optional 14-day extension: §7922.535. Identify Safeway Inc. dba Northern California Tracy Distribution Center, Inspection 1758269, 16900 W Schulte Rd., Tracy, opened June 26, 2024, citations December 23, 2024. Ask for citations, the inspection report, photographs, and OSHAB appeal status.

1. File a Cal/OSHA complaint if the hazard is still on the floor. Quotas, missing cool-down areas, blocked eyewash, damaged cords, untrained lift operators — describe what you see. You do not need the Title 8 number. High Hazard Unit or the district office for that zip. Workers: 833-579-0927, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays. Name confidential unless you ask to be named.

1. Retaliation is a different filing. Labor Code §§6310, 6311, 6312, 98.7. One year from the retaliatory act. Federal OSHA whistleblower: 30 days. Call 833-526-4636.

1. Unpaid wages are not a Cal/OSHA filing. Overtime, off-the-clock, missed meal and rest breaks go to the Labor Commissioner. Keep your own time records and paystubs. If you need a plain-English walkthrough of a DLSE wage claim, the free Wage Theft Recovery kit at JusticePrompt.com is built for that filing.

FAQs

DIR said $182,000. OSHA says $182,100. Which is right? Both, in their lanes. Quote the news release as $182,000 proposed. Quote the inspection table as $182,100 initial/current. The extra $100 is on the table, not in the press release.

If every item is contested, did Safeway have to abate? Contesting generally stays abatement dates until the appeal is resolved, except where the Division seeks an order to protect employees. Do not assume the floor is fixed. Look. If the hazard is still there, file.

Sources

DIR 2025-02: https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2025/2025-02.html. DIR $100k list: Inspection 1758269, SAFEWAY INC. DBA Northern California Tracy Distribution Center, issuance 12/23/2024, $182,100. OSHA inspection detail: https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.inspection_detail?id=1758269.015. Title 8 §§334, 3203, 3396, 3578, 4050, 5162, 5185, 3668. Labor Code §§6310, 6311, 6312, 6314.1, 6432, 98.7. Government Code §§7920.000–7931.000, 7922.535. High Hazard Unit: https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/High-Hazard-Unit.html. Complaint: https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/Complaint.htm. Wage claims: https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/howtofilewageclaim.htm. JusticePrompt.com wage-theft kit (self-help only).

*Educational use only — not legal advice, not a filing, and not a final-order finding. Proposed penalties can change on appeal. Verify current statute and docket status before you act.*