Several Cafeteria workers were reportedly hospitalized due to the combined triple-digit heat of the day, the ovens they were using and the lack of air conditioning, Monday, Sept. 9 .

“We go to Birmingham, so again, the cafeterias are not [air conditioned],” Chief Business Officer Gregory Wood said. “These are Los Angeles Unified School District  (LAUSD) cafeterias, there’s a landlord.”

Despite there not being air conditioning in the cafeteria, there is reportedly a different ventilation system in use.

“There’s a venting system in there,” Wood said. “We do want to continue to identify and create an environment that doesn’t get as hot.”

Since the incident, the school has reviewed potential plans to install an Air Conditioning System in the Cafeteria, and have also put in place a small cooler to try to attain a safer environment for the workers.

“The school has a vendor that has heating, ventilation,” Wood said, “They’re going to be looking at a proposal to install some type of air conditioning system”.

The peak temperature outside on that day was around 107 degrees, and a few days prior the high was 114 degrees. The ovens, which were used to cook student lunches such as pizza, raised the temperature inside the cafeteria even further.

“There was knowledge that it was going to be hot; we were supposed to be making cold [food],” Wood said. “ It was unfortunate [that] the manager was not there that day, they could have directed the staff not to make hot items.”

The cafeteria only has one working oven used for all of the student lunches, which has led the workers to all be around that one oven, creating a dangerous situation.

“There’s only one working oven in the cafeteria right now,” Wood said, “We have purchased two more ovens, they’re actually here on campus, and they’re going to be installed this week.”

There are also potential safety policies being implemented amongst the employees of Chartwells, the food service now residing in many California schools, including longer breaks, frequent hydration, and cooling pads. 

“[Chartwells] wants to protect its employees,” Wood said. “Knowing that, just the caveat to that is in doing that, LAUSD is kind of the landlord, so anything we do would have to be approved by LAUSD.”

While officially only two workers were hospitalized, several others were allegedly impaired by the heat and advice from the school nurse.

“[A worker] had symptoms, high blood pressure issues, so our nurse advised that she go seek medical attention,” Wood said. “Her husband picked her up and took her to her own physician, as far as I know, but she has not returned yet.”

There is no record of any events such as this one in the past, despite previous years having equally hot temperatures in the summer months.

“It’s been hot,” Wood said, “obviously it’s Woodland Hills, but not to the degree that it’s impacted the staff.”

Both the Cafeteria and the Nurse’s Office denied requests for comment on the situation.