Heat guidelines for farmworkers
• Water: Farmers must provide enough fresh, cool drinking water for each employee to drink at least one quart per hour. It must be located where all workers will have easy access and cups must be provided.
• Shade: Shade must be available for breaks and if employees need to recover under an umbrella, canopy or other portable structure.
• Worker reminders: Workers must been reminded and encouraged to take breaks in shade and rest for at least five minutes if they feel they need to. Workers must not wait until they feel sick to take a rest. They should drink water each hour and know where to find it and look out for one another and report any symptoms to their crew leader.
• Emergency preparedness: Someone in the field must have a telephone or radio and know who to contact in case of an emergency and how to describe the exact location.
Source: California Division of Occupational Safety
and Health
The California Legislature is right to get tougher with farmers who don't provide adequate shade and water for farmworkers.
Fortunately, The Desert Sun believes this is a rare case. Most farmers care for their workers and do their best to protect them from heat stress. After all, they can't succeed without them.
However, at least 14 farmworker deaths in California have been blamed on heat stress since 2005, when the state enacted the nation's first rules in the nation to demand shade and water be provided to protect farmworkers. Two more deaths this summer in the Central Valley are being investigated.
The California Rural Assistance League in Coachella has helped lead the fight to protect farmworkers. In June, it filed suit on behalf of two workers who said they were fired after they stopped picking peppers on an extremely hot day. In 2008, it filed a suit that claimed a Ventura-based company failed to provide adequate shade and water to workers in Thermal.
The latest tragedies have inspired the California Legislature to debate whether guidelines and punishment should be strengthened. It is considering two bills, both of which have passed the Assembly and face hearings in the Senate.
Assembly Bill 2346 would require water be available within 10 feet of employees and shade within 200 feet, regardless of temperature. Farmers who don't follow the rules would have to pay $1 million in restitution.
That seems extreme and, according to the California Farm Bureau Federation, impractical. And it makes no sense to demand shade when it's not hot.
The other bill, AB 2676, is more reasonable. It would make a violation of the rules a misdemeanor subject to fines or jail time. Farmers already face potential fines from state agencies that monitor compliance with the heat rules.
AB 2676 drew support from a handful of Republicans on the Assembly floor, including Brian Nestande of Palm Desert.
The guidelines — easy access to shade and water plus training for supervisors — are adequate. The real challenge is monitoring compliance.
The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health says it has ramped up enforcement in recent years, which has meant greater compliance and fewer deaths.
However, last year only 1,090 heat inspections were conducted on California's 81,500 farms. At that rate, many violations could go unnoticed.
The Desert Sun strongly supports rules to protect workers on Coachella Valley farms, which bring in nearly $500 million a year. Making the violations a misdemeanor is a modest step to save the lives of those who toil in our desert heat.
