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Registered nurses from Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland held a news conference this afternoon to discuss what they say is the latest in a series of workplace safety violations by Sutter Health. 

Organizers addressed the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health's recent imposition of a $71,275 fine against Sutter Health for a 2012 incident at the Summit campus on Hawthorne Boulevard in Oakland. 

Nurses with the California Nurses Association said management put 23 patients with transmissible diseases in isolation rooms that were not properly vented to prevent the spread of diseases that can be carried by solid or liquid particles in the air, a violation of state regulatory standards. 

The nurses said the violation put staff, patients and visitors at risk for exposure to tuberculosis or other serious diseases. 

Sutter Health has denied that part of the nurses' account. 

"It's important to note that review of the clinical data demonstrated that no patients or staff were put at risk," Sutter Health spokeswoman Carolyn Kemp said in a statement. 

CNA nurses said the 2012 violation was discovered while state officials were on site to investigate another major safety violation in 2009 that left a respiratory technician and an Oakland police officer unable to work after being exposed to meningococcal disease. 

CNA nurses also alleged that Sutter has failed to provide an adequate number of Powered Air Purifying Respirators (PAPRs) in violation of new regulations adopted in November for caring for suspected Ebola patients. 

The nurses spoke at the Merritt Pavilion, located at 350 Hawthorne St. on the Summit hospital campus.