Photo credit to The Wonderful Co.

A mechanic for Wonderful Pistachios and Almonds was killed Monday evening, September 16th during an accident on Highway 33 north of Highway 46 near Lost Hills. The CHP arrived on scene and determined it was an industrial-related accident on land belonging to Wonderful Company Pistachios & Almonds. Cal/OSHA is investigating. 

Cal/OSHA has not released any information. A spokesperson for Wonderful Pistachios and Almonds released the following statement, “Our work family has suffered a terrible loss. Our colleague of more than a decade, José López, was the passenger in a vehicle that collided with a truck on our property on Monday, an accident that took his life. Everyone at Wonderful Pistachios & Almonds cared deeply about José. His family is foremost in our thoughts and our priority now is to support them in every way possible. We are conducting a complete and careful investigation of what took place.” 

This is the second fatal industrial accident in as many months to occur on Wonderful Co. property. On August 13, Felipe Reyes García of Shafter was crushed to death while harvesting almonds for Wonderful Co. near Lost Hills. Cal/OSHA is investigating that accident as well. Elizabeth Strater, spokesperson for the United Farm Workers Union issued the following statement. 

“The death of José López, who had worked at Wonderful for over a decade, is tragic and unacceptable. It is especially painful so close on the heels of the worker who was crushed to death just three weeks ago. 

Any Wonderful Company workers who feel their worksite is unsafe or fear retaliation can reach out to United Farm Workers to support them in protecting themselves and their coworkers. We are only 3 weeks into the pistachio harvest. We request that Wonderful Company make a public plan on how they will prevent further catastrophic injuries or deaths among the workers whose labor builds their wealth. We also request that Wonderful Company meet with the United Farm Workers to discuss how to prevent these tragedies from being repeated. The company has both a moral and legal responsibility to provide a safe working environment. Nobody should ever be killed at work.”