LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In response to workplace safety complaints filed against numerous California adult film production companies by AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), AHF has learned that Cal/OSHA (California’s Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Occupational Safety and Health), has recently issued multiple workplace safety citations to porn mogul Larry Flynt’s Hustler Video (LFP Video Group LLC), adding Hustler to a growing list of adult film producers and distributors cited by the state’s health and safety regulatory and watchdog organization for failing to follow workplace safety regulations. AHF will host a press conference Thursday, March 31st at 10:30am in front of Flynt’s Hustler Hollywood store (8920 Sunset Blvd.) to discuss the dozens of citations OSHA has now issued against Flynt and numerous adult film producers and distributors for failing to follow workplace safety regulations.
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What: |
Press Conference: |
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| Cal/OSHA issues citations against Larry Flynt’s Hustler Video over workplace safety | |||
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When: |
Thursday, March 31st 10:30am |
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Where: |
In front of |
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| Larry Flynt’s Hustler Hollywood Store | |||
| 8920 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, 90069 (corner of Hilldale Ave) | |||
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Who: |
Michael Weinstein, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, President |
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Brian Chase, Assistant General Counsel, AHF |
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Whitney Engeran-Cordova, Director, Public Health Division, AIDS Healthcare Foundation |
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Contact: |
Ged Kenslea, AHF Director of Communications 323.308-1833 work; 323.791.5526 mobile |
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The OSHA citations against Flynt came about as a result of workplace safety complaints filed by AHF as part of its ongoing campaign to require the use of condoms in porn films shot and produced in California in an effort to reduce the spread of STDs including HIV.
“Larry Flynt and his LFP Video Group join 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,” said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “One area Flynt was cited and fined for under Cal/OSHA’s Bloodborne Pathogens Program, Personal Protective Equipment—i.e. for failing to use condoms or other barrier protection. We thank Cal/OSHA officials for stepping up to enforce state regulations designed to protect the workplace safety of adult film workers by citing and fining LFP and other adult film producers in California.”
In August 2009, AHF first filed ‘Notice of Safety or Health Hazards’ workplace safety complaints with Cal/OSHA against 16 California-based adult film companies (supported by nearly 60 adult DVDs), including complaints against Larry Flynt’s Hustler Video. AHF’s Cal/OSHA complaints asserted that the films demonstrate unsafe—potentially life-threatening—behavior in a California workplace, as the sexual acts filmed without participating performers using condoms depicted the unprotected exchange of bodily fluids. AHF subsequently submitted additional complaints specifically against Flynt’s Hustler Video (in September 2010, supported by 100 Hustler DVDs) as well as against Steve Hirsch’s Vivid Entertainment (January 2011, supported by over 20 Vivid DVDs). Flynt and Hirsch were each targeted, as they have been outspoken opponents of condom use in their film productions and in the industry in general.
On March 21, 2011, Cal/OSHA district manager Peter A. Riley wrote AHF president Michael Weinstein informing him that OSHA was issuing citations to Flynt’s LFP Video Group LLC for workplace safety violations including the following: Violations of T8CCR 5193
The Division investigated the items referenced in your complaint with the following results:
- Violation of T8CCR 3203(a) Injury and Illness Prevention Program
- Violation of T8CCR 3203(c) (1) (A) Bloodborne Pathogens Program, Exposure Control Plan
- Violation of T8CCR 3203(d)(4)(A) Bloodborne Pathogens Program, Personal Protective Equipment
Background on Cal/OSHA Citations & Fines of Adult Film Producers & Distributors
Since 2004, Cal/OSHA has issued dozens of workplace safety citations and fines to numerous adult film producers and distributors including Next Phase Distribution, Inc. (2006); Evasive Angles and TTB Productions (2006); La Touraine, Inc. [Naughty America] (Jan. 15 2009); Anthony Gladdney d/b/a MVP Entertainment Co. (Mar. 26, 2010); Hot Desert Knights, Inc. (Mar. 24, 2009); Discount Video [Sin City] (Feb. 18, 2009); Hot House Entertainment (June 27, 2008); HDK Distribution (Oct. 3, 2008); and Media Products, Inc. [Devil’s Films] June 9, 2010. To date, Cal/OSHA has opened investigations into three of the companies AHF has targeted with its complaints (since 2009) which are still pending and OSHA is still evaluating and considering additional investigations.
Background on AHF’s Adult Film Worker Safety Efforts Since an outbreak of as many as 20 HIV infections in the adult film industry in California several years ago—and the revelation that another adult film performer tested HIV positive last October—AHF and other AIDS advocates have spearheaded a multipronged campaign to improve worker safety by requiring condom use by adult film actors. As part of the effort, AHF has sued local Los Angeles County public health officials to enforce existing workplace safety regulations; it has lobbied for an overhaul of state workplace safety measures covering adult film sets in both California and Florida (the two largest production centers); it has filed worker safety complaints with state regulators against both adult film producers as well as adult talent agencies and it has sought legislation in Sacramento to more clearly codify adult film safety regulations.
Three outbreaks of HIV in the industry and an ongoing epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in California’s adult film industry prompted AHF to take a stepped up and ongoing role in trying to improve worker safety in the adult film industry. According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LADPH), workers in the adult film industry are ten times more likely to be infected with a sexually transmitted disease than members of the population at large. LADPH documented 2,742 individual cases of chlamydia and 1,671 cases of gonorrhea among workers between the years 2004 and 2010. LADPH has observed that many workers suffer multiple infections, with some performers having four or more separate infections over the course of a year. In addition, LADPH has stated that as many as 25 industry-related cases of HIV have been reported since 2004.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and services to more than 156,000 individuals in 26 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific region and Eastern Europe. www.aidshealth.org