Nine Duarte Nursery Workers Were Hospitalized for Carbon Monoxide Exposure. The Fine Was $3,375.

In 2019, nine Duarte Nursery employees were removing shoots from grapevines inside a greenhouse when they became ill. They were first treated for heat illness. When their symptoms didn’t improve, they were taken to the hospital and treated for carbon monoxide exposure. Regulators cited the company for a serious violation, the category used when a hazard could realistically cause death or serious harm, for failing to monitor airborne contaminants. The fine was $3,375 in all, for an incident that put nine people in the hospital.

In June 2013, an irrigator at the nursery had chest pain and trouble breathing while working, then collapsed. He was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead. Regulators fined the company $5,000 for failing to report the death promptly. The records do not say the company caused his death.

Counting inspections from 2012 through 2021, years when John Duarte was the nursery’s president, workplace safety regulators cited Duarte Nursery eight times and issued $22,220 in fines, the Los Angeles Times reported in 2024.

The largest penalties followed a November 2021 accident on a tree-trimming machine the nursery built itself; a lawsuit says the worker lost three fingers. In May 2022, after an inspection that the nursery’s own sworn answers link to the accident, Cal/OSHA cited the company for two serious violations, under rules requiring machine guarding and shutting machinery down during adjustments, plus a training-records violation, with $11,895 in penalties. Read that story.

Alexandra Duarte, a Republican, is running for California State Senate District 4 on the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot. She is married to former Rep. John Duarte, who has served as the nursery’s president.