The first of a two part series, this article will examine the federal regulations that oversee the U.S. marijuana industry and their inspections for worker safety.
The federal government isn’t waiting until cannabis becomes legalized nationwide to increase workplace inspections. An investigation by Green Market Report found.
According to a review of hundreds of inspection records of marijuana companies obtained by Green Market Report. The records – dated between October 2022 and November 2024 – show that the agency issued fines in the tens of thousands of dollars to a wide array of businesses for violations ranging from worker deaths to a lack of warning that “ground cannabis dust” can pose a significant workplace hazard.
There are more complaints and inspections
Kim Anzarut is the founder of Allay Consulting and says, “Definitely” increased OSHA surveillance of cannabis has been a growing trend for many years.
I’ve been seeing them more often. We’ve acquired many clients because OSHA has walked in the door and said, ‘Hey, we got a complaint,'” Anzarut, who’s been doing OSHA-related compliance work with cannabis companies since 2017, said. They will inspect unannounced if someone reports something small. “So it’s happening more often.”
Anzarut says OSHA does not have a division dedicated to cannabis, as it does for other industries. All of its actions to date have been based on complaints made to the agency, which include those relating to employees who died at work.
Lorna M. McMurrey is the first worker in the cannabis industry to have died. McMurrey died in 2022 after suffering a severe asthmatic reaction to ground cannabis dust, which she was exposed to while working at a Trulieve Cannabis Corp. (CSE: TRUL) (OTCQX: TCNNF) manufacturing plant in Massachusetts.
In 2023, a second death in the cannabis industry was reported. This time it happened in Illinois at Green Thumb Industries. These two incidents led OSHA last autumn to release a bulletin stating that cannabis dust was classified as “hazardous chemicals.”
This is not the only thing OSHA does.
Rather, the agency – which Anzarut said is known in business circles as the “highest fining department in the United States” – has ramped up its inspections for the legal cannabis industry as it ballooned in size over the years.
A number of cannabis companies with a high profile have been fined for the oversight.
- Ascend Wellness Holdings Inc. (CSE : AAWH U.CN) (OTCQX : AAWH
- Ayr Wellness, Inc.
- The Cannabist Co.
- Cansortium (CSE TIUM.U.) (OTCQB : CNTMF).
- Cresco Labs (CSE: CL) (OTCQX: CRLBF)
- Curaleaf Holdings (CURA:CA) (TSX: CURA)
- Gage Cannabis Co.
- Green Thumb Industries
- LivWell
- Lume Cannabis Co.
- Medicine Man Technologies (OTC: SHWZ) (Cboe CA: SHWZ)
- PharmaCann
- Revolutionary Clinics
- STIIIZY
- Temescal Wellness
- Trulieve
- TerrAscend Corp.
According to OSHA, hundreds of cannabis businesses, licensed or underground, were also inspected. Many of them faced fines from several hundred dollars up to thousands of dollars.
More cannabis worker deaths
OSHA reports indicate that at least six deaths have been reported between October 20,22 and November 20,24. The OSHA records show that one worker has tell-tale symptoms, similar to McMurrey’s and Julie Devinney’s, which suggest the possibility of ground cannabis.
A 24-year-old man working at Revolution Cannabis’ manufacturing plant in Delavan (Illinois) was found unresponsive in the bathroom on May 30th, 2024. He had only worked there for two weeks. OSHA’s investigation reports state that the employee, who was not named, “started having breathing problems” and began “removing his clothing before running into a nearby restroom.”
When security entered the bathroom they found Employee No. 1 unresponsive lying on the ground. OSHA noted in its investigation that, “the employee was transported to the hospital and pronounced dead.” The OSHA also stated that, the employee, who had recently been transferred from labeling to cultivation due to respiratory problems, was transferred.
Records indicate that the cause of death remains “unknown” but that autopsy results “pending”. OSHA is yet to punish Revolution Cannabis and this case has been closed.
OSHA investigated Revolution Cannabis for a second workplace fatality on 12 February last year. This time, a female employee aged 67 died after consuming too much methamphetamine at an Illinois facility. It was determined that Revolution had not been at fault.
In a different scene, a marijuana farm worker in Oklahoma died on April 12 of last year from an infection in his urinary system “after falling ill due to the heat”. OSHA reports indicate that the male employee, 57 years old and unnamed, began showing symptoms in April. Next day, an employer brought the employee to the doctor, who prescribed anti-biotics.
After two days, the employer “left the employee outside the hospital.” He was seen in distress by medical staff outside. They provided him with care. According to OSHA, the employee died of a UTI due to delay in treatment.
OSHA slapped Blackwell Grower with an initial fine of $11,061, which was later lowered to $7,500, for not properly training the employee who died on “cannabis growing activities using hazardous chemicals such as … carbon dioxide and plant fertilizers.”
In November 2022, Humboldt Sanctuary Farms in California was hit with a harsher financial penalty after one of their employees passed away from carbon monoxide. A 55-year-old carpenter, who was sleeping with an open heater or generator on in the same room as him at that time, received a harsher financial penalty.
The employer received several fines amounting to $34,250.
OSHA conducted an investigation in November 2023 into the fatal shooting of a Los Angeles marijuana dispensary’s security guard. A 25-year old male worker was shot to death in an attempt to robbery. The incident was declared an accident and no penalty was levied on the cannabis dispensary.
OSHA visited Southern California again in February 2012 after an explosion occurred at a “unknown marijuana operation”, at that time described by Los Angeles Times at a “illegal honey oils clandestine laboratories.” OSHA discovered that an explosion had killed a male 42-year-old worker. The investigation, however, did not find any one person to be held responsible. The case was closed without any fines.
Anzarut said that there’s no doubt the earlier deaths by McMurrey, and Devinney have contributed directly to OSHA focusing on the cannabis industry. Her statement that “ground marijuana dust” was widely publicized as the cause has brought cannabis industry owners to this issue.
“Now, with recent deaths, people are looking at their grinding rooms and going, ‘Oh, wait, this might be a problem,'” Anzarut said.
OSHA targets cannabis dust
OSHA inspectors aren’t just focused on worker deaths. Instead, the vast bulk of complaints are examined by Green Market Report There were also smaller violations that often had to do with “respiratory safety” or failures in “hazard communications” on behalf of the employers. You can view a full list of investigation here.
OSHA issued a number of citations that specifically called out businesses who failed to warn their workers about the dangers the marijuana plant poses.
In March 2024, for instance, Curaleaf was fined $10,372 by OSHA because it “did not identify and evaluate the respiratory hazards in the workplace, such as … endotoxins and cannabis while employees were pruning and defoliating the cannabis plants” at a facility in Ravena, New York.
In April 2023, Chicago-based Cresco Labs was fined $11,162 because it “did not evaluate whether ground cannabis dust … was required to be classified as a hazardous chemical” at its facility in Uxbridge, Massachusetts.
Massgrow – a Massachusetts licensed cannabis grower – was fined $9 488 in June 2023 for the exact violation that Cresco committed.
Focus Partners, a Missouri-based company, was fined $21,191 in November 2022 for several violations. These included not creating a “respiratory program” that would protect employees using respirators when working with “pesticides and cannabis dust.”
This list is endless.
Additional safety concerns
The problem is not limited to cannabis dust. OSHA data shows that a number of companies have also been fined for other industrial safety infractions.
For instance, Revolutionary Clinics in Massachusetts – a different company from Revolution Cannabis, the company investigated for two worker deaths – was fined $33,482 in April 2023 after one of its employees suffered an “amputation injury” while cleaning out a “depositor machine.” Two other violations were also noted.
Revolutionary Clinics received an additional $8,840 for violating “respiratory protective” laws for its employees in May of 2023.
Blackwell Grower, one of the companies investigated for a worker death, was also separately hit with a $10,141 fine from OSHA on April 18, 2024 – just a week after it was investigated for the worker fatality – for having a work environment “likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees” due to potential electrocution. OSHA found circuit breakers unprotected, and that Blackwell’s electrical outlets were within 10 feet open water barrels and running electrical pumps.
Curaleaf received another $22,321 in fines from Massachusetts OSHA inspectors after they found out that its Ware facility “did not provide employment and an employment place that were free of recognized hazardous conditions that caused or are likely to result in death or physical injury to employees.” There were “deteriorating draw slide” which could cause “musculoskeletal” injuries.
Curaleaf also received a $24,108 fine in April of 2023, after inspections revealed that their facility in Litchfield (Illinois) had failed to conduct medical examinations for employees wearing respirators. They did not ensure the correct fit or train the employees on the proper use of the respirators.
OSHA had also recorded multiple violations by other cannabis firms.
TerrAscend Corp., a Toronto-based company, was fined $ 37,948 for seven violations at its New Jersey facility in July 2023. These included “occupational sound exposure,” “operational elements for exit routes,” as well as not protecting industrial machines that were used to manufacture cannabis.
OSHA also issued two fines to the MSO for violating OSHA regulations at an MSO facility located in Bay City (Michigan). The company received a $22,900 fine in January 2023 for violations relating to “respiratory safety,” “flammable fluids,” and “hazard communications.” Inspectors then found additional violations in May and fined the company another $7,000.
Trulieve is also still under OSHA’s scrutiny after it settled with them over McMurreys death. In December, the same year, OSHA inspectors visited Trulieve’s Tampa facility and issued an additional $26,788 fine for having exposed “employees” to a slipping risk.
Green Thumb Industries of Chicago has dealt with OSHA violations as well. In May 2023, Green Thumb Industries received a $34,042 fine at its Rock Island facility. The issue was primarily respiratory protection.
Inspectors at GTI Pennsylvania found that employees had been “exposed” to fire hazards in November 2023. A GTI Maryland facility was also fined $1500 for “flammable liquids” in September of the same year. Maryland’s citation, as well as all the original fines, were deleted.
OSHA’s records show that In Grown Farms in Illinois was fined $50,227 for an employee who was hurt while using portable fire extinguishers after a blast.
This explosion was caused by the incorrect use of a space heater that was placed next to an outlet that wasn’t rated properly for industrial uses and that was located next to “plant debris that had been saturated with butane.” According to OSHA, a spark from the space heater ignited flammable gases and caused an explosion. The employee suffered burns on his hands and face.
OSHA cites other cannabis-related violations:
- Hazardous chemical handling lack of training
- Improper fire suppression systems
- Inadequate industrial protection
- Hazards of fire and entrapment