From the National Farmworker Ministry (http://nfwm.org/):
This summer’s heat wave is creating dangerous and deadly condition for farm workers–even more than usual.
Inside Climate News reports:
“People around the Pacific Northwest piled into emergency cooling centers late last month to escape the region’s life-threatening heat wave. Sebastián Francisco Perez, an undocumented farm worker in Oregon who had arrived from Guatemala just two months ago, did not have that luxury.
No laws required Perez’s employer to provide water, shade or rest breaks—let alone a cooling station—to help workers cope with the punishing heat. On June 26, temperatures approached 105 degrees at the nursery where Perez worked, about 30 miles south of Portland. As the mercury climbed, Perez worked until he collapsed and died. He was 38.
If Congress passed heat standards like those adopted by California in 2005, farmworker advocates say, Perez might still be alive.
The United Farm Workers and Oregon-based Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN) urged state officials to issue emergency rules to protect agricultural workers from unsafe conditions during heat waves.”
Read the rest here:
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/09072021/for-farmworkers-heat-too-often-means-needless-death/
Heat Stress Legislation:
The Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatality Prevention Act is named in honor of Asunción Valdivia who died in 2004 after picking grapes for ten hours straight in 105-degree temperatures.
The Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatality Prevention Act will protect workers against occupational exposure to excessive heat by:
Requiring the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to establish an enforceable standard to protect workers in high-heat environments with measures like paid breaks in cool spaces, access to water, limitations on time exposed to heat, and emergency response for workers with heat-related illness; and
Directing employers to provide training for their employees on the risk factors that can lead to heat illness, and guidance on the proper procedures for responding to symptoms.
Rest, water, shade, emergency relief, and training.
This is common sense legislation that will save the lives of farm workers.
Contact your Senators and Representatives TODAY!
NFWM’s resources about heat stress: http://nfwm.org/resource-center/harvest-of-justice/farm-workers-the-environment-harvest-of-justice-2020/heat-stress/
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