The fines resulted from seven citations that Cal-OSHA issued against Merced Farm Labor, a company based in Atwater. Maria Isavel Vasquez Jiminez, who was hired to work in a vineyard east of Stockton, died on May 16 after collapsing during a heat wave two days earlier. The state issued a stop-work order against the contractor over the company’s failure to comply with heat-stress prevention rules and has been working to revoke its license.

It is the largest fine against an agricultural firm since the state implemented strict heat-prevention regulations in 2006, according to a statement released Wednesday by the office of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“Employers or labor contractors that do not comply with the heat illness prevention standards I signed into law in 2005 will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Schwarzenegger said in a written statement. “These organizations must obey the law and protect workers’ safety or we will shut them down.”