More than three years after a 27-year-old Trulieve cannabis worker died following an occupational asthma attack in the now-closed processing facility in Holyoke, Mass., lawmakers are considering legislation to provide workplace safety for the industry.
The legislation, House Bill 194, would create a department within the state’s cannabis regulatory commission dedicated to implementing occupational safety standards for the state’s licensed businesses.
This new government entity, the Department of Workplace and Consumer Safety (DWCS), would be responsible for investigating air quality, first responder access and other workplace safety matters that could lead to better conditions in cannabis cultivation, processing and retail facilities.
Under H.B. 194, sponsored by Rep. Susannah Whipps, I-Athol, the DWCS also would be tasked with ensuring consumer safety by compiling data related to mold testing and reporting that data to the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission (CCC), under which it would be umbrellaed.
The legislation comes in the aftermath of Lorna McMurrey’s January 2022 death. The 27-year-old from West Springfield had an asthma attack and collapsed while filling pre-rolls with kief (ground-up cannabis dust) at Trulieve’s processing facility in Holyoke, according to an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) accident investigation summary. She died three days later at Baystate Hospital.
RELATED: Investigation Began Before Trulieve’s Holyoke Facility Worker Died
On April 9, 2025, McMurrey’s mother, Laura Bruneau, testified in support of H.B. 194 before the Massachusetts Legislature’s Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy, which held a hearing to allow public comment on 21 cannabis-related bills.
“I am testifying today because my daughter Lorna’s death was preventable,” Bruneau said, adding that her daughter had an initial occupational asthma attack eight weeks earlier at the production facility.
“Lorna’s story is not an isolated event,” she said. “Workers and consumers are vulnerable because safety regulations are lagging behind the rapid industry growth. It is unacceptable for companies to prioritize profit over people’s safety. Workers and consumers need to be protected. That is why this bill is crucial.”
Bruneau asked lawmakers on the joint committee to support H.B. 194 in honor of her daughter’s memory to make sure “this doesn’t happen to anybody else.”
“Lorna was my world, and I have no world anymore,” she said.
In June 2022, OSHA officials dealt Trulieve more than $35,000 in fines—which the company contested—related to three workplace “hazard communication” violations. OSHA attributed the violations to a failure to properly train workers on occupational hazards and noncompliant recordkeeping of hazardous materials at the facility.
In November 2023, nearly two years after the incident, a federal report published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined that McMurrey’s death was the first attributed to occupational asthma in a U.S. cannabis production worker.
“This case illustrates missed opportunities for prevention, including control of workplace exposures, medical surveillance and treatment according to current asthma guidelines,” according to the report.
Before that report was issued, Florida-based Trulieve announced in June 2023 that it was exiting the Massachusetts market, a decision that impacted 128 workers, including the ones at the now-closed Holyoke facility.
In June 2024, Trulieve agreed to pay a $350,000 fine in a settlement with the CCC in connection to McMurrey’s death, according to the CCC.
In November 2024, the CCC issued new recommendations designed to improve workplace health and safety at licensed cannabis processing facilities and throughout the industry, marking the commission’s formal recognition of ground cannabis dust as a “hazardous chemical” that can irritate the respiratory system and exposed skin.
This recognition is key for cannabis companies to remain compliant with OSHA regulations. Since McMurrey’s death, the federal agency has cited other cannabis licensees for failing to evaluate and classify ground cannabis dust as a hazardous chemical under the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard.
Under the federal standard, employers are required to ensure proper chemical labeling on containers, provide information and training to employees about chemical hazards, and develop and maintain a written hazard communication program.
Also, employers are required to provide a Safety Data Sheet after evaluating the hazards of the chemicals they produce and communicate those hazards to exposed workers and downstream consumers.
Although cannabis remains federally illegal, cannabis businesses must still comply with OSHA standards and are subject to violations.
RELATED: OSHA Playing Catch-Up With the Cannabis Industry
The commission’s recommendations are intended to increase awareness of the health risks associated with the industry and to enhance safety standards, CCC Chief People Office Debbie Hilton-Creek said at the time.
“We will continue to partner with licensees to appropriately and effectively communicate this message and depend on them to implement protocols that will protect the overall well-being of our workforce,” she said.
While the CCC “depends” on cannabis businesses to remain OSHA-compliant, H.B. 194 would help the commission ensure that industry workers are protected.
Also testifying in support of H.B. 194 was Elsa Hector, one of the four panelists associated with the Massachusetts Coalition for Cannabis Worker Safety. She told the joint committee members that cannabis workers often don’t report illnesses or injuries out of fear of retaliation.
“Employers have failed to protect workers, perhaps from shortcuts to maximize profit or because they need guidance on how to implement safety protections,” Hector said. “The federal government will be of less help.”
Hector was referring to the expected September 2025 closure of OSHA’s roughly 5,000-square-foot office building in Andover, Mass., as a result of lease cuts announced last month by President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is led by Elon Musk.
The cuts include nearly 800 leases for federal agency office buildings nationwide, including 11 OSHA buildings in Alabama, Illinois (3), Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas, The Associated Press reported.
While closing the OSHA’s office in Andover—one of the agency’s four offices in Massachusetts—could save more than $140,000 annually in lease payments, some argue the move could cost more than that with an increase in work-related injuries, illnesses and deaths.
“The state has to step up,” Hector said.
The legislation would form a Department of Workplace and Consumer Safety within the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission. Read More
