Farmworker dies in Salinas Valley heat

Man, 51, was harvesting lettuce in mid-90s degree temperatures

A 51-year-old farmworker died Monday after passing out in the afternoon heat while picking lettuce on a Salinas Valley farm — one day after Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill that would have provided field workers additional protection from heat-related illness and death.

CalOSHA spokesperson Erika Monterroza confirmed Tuesday that her agency received a report from both Dole Fresh Vegetables Inc. and the Monterey County Coroner’s Office notifying the state agency of the death. A call placed to the Coroner’s Office seeking the name of the farmworker and autopsy findings was not immediately returned late Tuesday afternoon. CalOSHA is calling it a “potential heat-related death.”

A call placed to the Salinas office of Dole Fresh Vegetables was referred to a human resources employee in Monterey and was not immediately returned.

Based on the reports filed with CalOSHA, the field worker collapsed in the 94-degree weather Monday while harvesting lettuce. He was taken to Mee Memorial Hospital in King City where he died. CalOSHA has launched an investigation into the death, Monterroza said.

Two calls each to the Salinas Fire Department and the Soledad Fire Department were not immediately returned.

The exact location of the farm where the tragedy occurred was not known at press time Tuesday, but emergency communications Monday afternoon indicated the scene was at Los Coches Ranch, which places the incident near Soledad.

On Sunday, Gov. Brown rejected The Humane Treatment for Farm Workers Act — authored by Assemblyman Charles Calderon, D-Whittier — that would have made it a misdemeanor crime, punishable by jail time and fines, to not provide appropriate water or shade to workers laboring under high heat conditions. Brown also vetoed AB 2346 — The Farm Worker Safety Act — by Assemblywoman Betsy Butler, D-Los Angeles. It would have allowed workers to sue employers who repeatedly violate the law.

United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez, angry at Brown’s veto of the farmworkers bill, took a verbal slap Monday at the leader who championed his union’s cause as governor three decades ago by signing the historic Agricultural Labor Relations Law.

“The UFW is appalled at the governor’s decision to deny farmworkers the basic legal tools to protect themselves from employers who intentionally put their lives at risk by refusing to provide them with adequate water and shade,” he said in a written statement.

Since California issued regulations in 2005 to keep farmworkers from dying of extreme heat, preventable farmworker deaths have continued, according to the United Farm Workers. State regulators are investigating two possible heat-related farmworker deaths that occurred this summer across the state. Giev Kashkooli, legislative director for the UFW, citing CalOSHA data said one in four growers are not complying with laws governing farmworker health protection.

“Workers on 19 farms in Kern County where a farmworker died didn’t have basic shade,” Kashkooli said. “The workers reported to us that the water that was provided was as hot as coffee.”

CalOSHA’s investigation will entail an on-site inspection of the farm; review of safety documentation; interviews with employees, the employer and other witnesses; and laboratory analysis and expert opinion — in this case from the county coroner’s investigator.

If it is determined that violations occurred, the company could be cited for as little as $7,000 or as much as $70,000. The Monterey County District Attorney’s office would need to make the determination whether any criminal wrong-doing occurred.

Temperatures today in the Soledad area are expected to cool off with highs in the low-80s and then continuing to cool during the week, according to the National Weather Service.