“A fighting force both consistent and compassionate on a scale’s a 5 all around.”
Rachael Hall
✦ Board-Certified Specialist in Workers’ Compensation Law — State Bar of California ✦
Your workplace should be safe. When it’s not, we hold employers and insurers accountable.
By Eman Yazdchi, Esq. · Certified Specialist in Workers' Compensation Law
Few communities in California pack as much industrial danger into as small a footprint as Mojave. On Airport Boulevard, the Mojave Air and Space Port — the nation's first FAA-licensed inland spaceport — houses over 30 companies conducting rocket propulsion testing, experimental aircraft development, and spacecraft assembly. Workers at Virgin Galactic, Scaled Composites, Stratolaunch, and The Spaceship Company work with volatile fuels, high-pressure systems, and prototype vehicles that have no safety track record because they have never flown before. A few miles south, the BNSF Railway yard runs continuous switching and maintenance operations where train cars weighing hundreds of tons move through the yard around the clock. And east on Highway 58, the Rio Tinto Borax mine in Boron — one of the world's largest open-pit borate mines — exposes workers to heavy equipment, toxic mineral dust, and extreme desert conditions daily.
California's workers' compensation system under Labor Code sections 3200 through 6002 is built on a no-fault principle. You do not need to prove your employer did anything wrong. You do not need to prove you were free of fault yourself. If your injury arose out of and in the course of your employment — whether it was a single traumatic event or years of cumulative exposure — you are entitled to benefits. This is critical in Mojave, where the inherent danger of the work means injuries happen even when safety protocols are followed perfectly.
Attorney Eman Yazdchi holds board certification in workers' compensation law from the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization — a credential earned by fewer than one percent of California attorneys. That level of specialization matters when your claim involves complex causation disputes at an experimental aerospace facility, toxic exposure in a borax mine, or the intersection of state workers' comp and federal railroad law at the BNSF yard. We represent Mojave workers at the Bakersfield WCAB and fight the insurance carriers who profit from this community's geographic isolation.
While workers' comp is no-fault — meaning you receive benefits regardless of who caused the injury — Cal/OSHA safety violations play a critical role in your claim. Under LC section 4553, if your employer's serious and willful misconduct caused your injury, your workers' comp benefits can be increased by 50%. Mojave's industrial facilities present some of the most egregious safety risks in the state.
The Mojave Air and Space Port operates under FAA experimental permits that allow testing of vehicles and propulsion systems that would not be permitted at commercial airports. This creates an environment where workers are exposed to hazards that fall outside standard Cal/OSHA frameworks. Rocket engine static fire tests produce extreme noise, heat, and toxic exhaust. Composite material fabrication at companies like Scaled Composites exposes workers to carbon fiber dust, epoxy resins, and volatile organic compounds. When these exposures cause injury — hearing loss, respiratory disease, chemical burns — the employer cannot hide behind the "experimental" nature of the work. Cal/OSHA Title 8 still applies, and under LC section 4610, the insurer must authorize all medically necessary treatment.
The BNSF rail yard in Mojave is regulated by both the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and Cal/OSHA. Switching operations — coupling and uncoupling rail cars, throwing manual switches, riding cars through the yard — produce crush injuries, amputations, and falls that are among the most severe in any industry. Train crew fatigue is a documented factor in railroad injuries nationwide, and BNSF's scheduling practices at the Mojave yard are no exception. For BNSF employees, FELA claims offer an alternative path to compensation that includes full damages for pain and suffering.
The Rio Tinto Borax mine in Boron and the Golden Queen Mining gold and silver operation expose workers to a combination of heavy equipment hazards and toxic mineral dust. Borax dust inhalation can cause chronic respiratory conditions. Open-pit mining requires operation of haul trucks, excavators, and conveyors that produce crush, rollover, and entrapment injuries. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) regulations layer on top of Cal/OSHA requirements, creating a complex regulatory environment — but the workers' comp obligation remains straightforward: your employer must cover all medical treatment and lost wages regardless of fault.
Mojave regularly exceeds 115 degrees Fahrenheit in summer, with winter temperatures dropping below freezing. Cal/OSHA's Heat Illness Prevention Standard (Title 8, section 3395) requires employers to provide water, shade, rest breaks, and a written heat illness prevention plan when temperatures exceed 80 degrees. For outdoor workers at the Space Port tarmac, the railroad yard, and mine sites, heat stroke is a workplace injury covered by workers' comp — and failure to provide heat protections may constitute serious and willful misconduct.
Injured at work in Mojave? Call (661) 273-1780
Tap to call →The Mojave Air and Space Port on Airport Boulevard, the BNSF rail yard along the tracks south of Highway 58, and the mining corridor east on Highway 58 toward Boron represent Mojave's three primary industrial injury zones. Each has distinct hazard profiles requiring different medical and legal approaches.
All Mojave workplace injury claims are heard at the Bakersfield WCAB district office in Kern County. We handle every appearance — from initial filings to trial — so injured Mojave workers have full representation without the burden of repeated trips to Bakersfield.
Ready to discuss your case? Schedule a free consultation.
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