Thu Jan 24, 2013 12:00pm EST

On January 10th, OSHA officials issue multiple safety citations to Chatsworth-based Streamray Studios, Inc., which produces work for Penthouse, for failing to follow workplace safety regulations, including failure to `…ensure use of appropriate personal protective equipment, such as…condoms…”

OSHA citations came about after stepped up inspections following an outbreak of syphilis, a highly contagious but curable STD, shut down the entire industry for several weeks last summer
LOS ANGELES–(Business Wire)–
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has learned that Cal/OSHA (California`s Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Occupational Safety and Health), the state`s health and safety regulatory and watchdog organization, issued multiple workplace safety citations to Chatsworth-based adult film production company Streamray Studios Inc., including several for failing to follow workplace safety regulations, including for failure to `…ensure use of appropriate personal protective equipment, such as…condoms…”

The OSHA citations came about after stepped up inspections following an outbreak of syphilis, a highly contagious but curable STD, shut down the entire adult industry for several weeks last summer. Inspections at Streamray occurred on or before October 4th and October 17th 2012.

On January 10, 2013, officials from the High Hazard Unit of Cal OSHA issued seven (7) citations ranging in degree from general to serious to Streamray. Three (3) of the seven dealt specifically with condom use and availability (or lack thereof) and/or safer sex practices among the adult film performers, including a citation for failure to `write, establish, implement, and/or maintain an Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) which met the requirements of this standard for their employees who were exposed to hazards including but not limited to sexually transmitted illness in the course of producing adult videos. The seven citations resulted in financial penalties or fines totaling $28,460, of which $14,175 of the fines were specifically issued for lack of condoms on set, lack of an Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) and Exposure Control Plan.

“Streamray now joins the ranks of a growing list of adult film producers and distributors cited by Cal/OSHA for failing to properly follow workplace safety regulations on their adult film sets with regard to condom use and other safety precautions, cited specifically under Cal/OSHA`s Bloodborne Pathogens Program, Personal Protective Equipment guidelines-i.e. for failing to use condoms or other barrier protection,” said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “What is particularly heartening about these Streamray citations is that OSHA issued these citations alongside other citations for far more mundane violations-breakers in an electrical panel not being properly labeled, or for a table saw that did not have the proper guards and safety devices attached. In short, OSHA has normalized and incorporated the condom and bloodborne pathogens citations as a routine part of a whole battery of potential violations that an employer or workplace could face. We thank Cal/OSHA for stepping up to enforce regulations designed to protect the workplace safety of adult film workers at Streamray and other adult film producers in California.”

Background on AHF`s Adult Film Worker Safety Efforts

In November 2012, Los Angeles County voters passed Ballot Measure B, the County of Los Angeles Safer Sex in the Adult Film Industry Act. Measure B is the so-called condoms in porn measure spearheaded by AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) with an overwhelming margin of voter support-57% to 43%.

Earlier last year, the City Council adopted the `City of Los Angeles Safer Sex In The Adult Film Industry Act,` which conditioned the issuance of City of Los Angeles film permits to adult film producers to condom use in the subsequent adult films shot and produced in Los Angeles. AHF had first introduced the item as a proposed City ballot measure; however, City Council-anticipating that the measure would likely have passed-voted instead, as permitted by law, to adopt that measure outright in an 11 to 1 vote.

Both the City and County measures were initially spearheaded by AHF and members of the advocacy group, FAIR (`For Adult Industry Responsibility`), after as many as 22 HIV infections believed to be industry-related were reported in several outbreaks in Los Angeles since 2004, and amidst thousands of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) occurring annually among adult performers.