State of California, Dept. of Corrections - Avenal State Prison safety record at a glance
State of California, Dept. of Corrections - Avenal State Prison has been the subject of 6 Cal/OSHA inspections in California since 2000, opened between Oct 3, 2000 and Feb 3, 2021. 5 of them were accident inspections. 1 of them produced citations, 3 in all: 2 serious. Inspectors proposed $39,600 in penalties; after appeals and settlements the current total is $22,400. The largest single penalty, $22,400, came from an inspection opened Aug 25, 2020 in Avenal. That places the employer at #5,625 of 122,854 California employers in the database by penalties.
Industry as coded by the inspecting office: Public Administration. Worksites in Chowchilla, Avenal, Lancaster, Long Beach.
Every inspection, newest first
Click a date for the citations in that inspection.
| Opened | City | Why | Result | Penalty | Closed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 3, 2021 | Chowchilla | Accident | open, no citations yet | $0 | open |
| Nov 2, 2020 | Avenal | Accident | no citations | $0 | Oct 1, 2021 |
| Aug 25, 2020 | Avenal | Accident | 3 citations 2 serious | $22,400 $39,600 proposed | Jul 31, 2024 |
| Nov 8, 2019 | Avenal | Accident | no citations | $0 | Apr 1, 2020 |
| Oct 8, 2002 | Lancaster | Accident | no citations | $0 | Mar 24, 2003 |
| Oct 3, 2000 | Long Beach | Complaint | no citations | $0 | May 9, 2001 |
Also recorded as: State of California Dept of Corrections; State of California, Dept. of Corrections; State of California, Dept. of Corrections - Central California Women's Facility.
The rules this employer was cited under
- 8 CCR 5199, Aerosol transmissible diseases: 3 citations, 2 serious, $22,400
Accidents investigated
Local pages: Lancaster employment lawyer.
How to read this record
Each row is one inspection by Cal/OSHA (or, rarely, federal OSHA) of one worksite. Why is the reason it was opened. Penalty is the current figure after any appeal or settlement; where it was reduced, the amount the inspector first proposed is shown under it. "Serious" means a realistic possibility of death or serious harm; "willful" and "repeat" carry penalties up to $162,851 each.
Citations document that the employer was told, in writing, what the rule required and when. That knowledge is often the center of a retaliation case: a worker who complained about the hazard an inspector later cited, and was then fired or cut, has a Labor Code 6310 claim, with lost wages and attorney's fees.
Full explainer: how to read a Cal/OSHA record.
If you work, or worked, at State of California, Dept. of Corrections - Avenal State Prison
Write down what you reported, to whom and when, and what changed afterward: shifts, pay, duties, write-ups. Request the inspection file from the Cal/OSHA district office using the activity number on the inspection page. An injury goes through workers' compensation; a firing, demotion or threat after a safety complaint or injury report is an employment claim with a one-year deadline at the Labor Commissioner (Labor Code 6310) and a longer one in court. Free, confidential review: (800) 371-3088 or send what you have.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor OSHA enforcement data, California inspections. Record last checked Nov 4, 2026. Back to the safety tracker.
About this data: Records come from the U.S. Department of Labor's OSHA enforcement datasets (inspection, violation, accident and accident injury tables), which carry Cal/OSHA's state-plan inspections alongside federal ones. We load every inspection of a California worksite opened since January 1, 2000 and refresh it weekly. Employer names, addresses and industry codes are as the inspecting office recorded them; similar names are grouped where they clearly refer to the same employer. A citation can be reduced, vacated or withdrawn on appeal, and an inspection can stay open for months, so a record can change. Penalties shown as "current" reflect the latest status in the federal file. This page is public information about the employer's regulatory record, not legal advice and not a statement that any person was harmed or any law broken beyond what the record states.