Employment Safety: Farm Employers Warned on Workers’ Safety due to Extreme Heat

July 14, 2010

Oakland – The California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal OSHA) has urged farm employers to make sure that they comply with the heat illness prevention standard following the halting of two farming operations near Winchester.

Agency enforcers said operations at Rheingans Farms and Greenfield Inc were shut down after they found that their workers were exposed to high heat and the heat illness prevention standard was violated.

The farm companies can only resume operations after Cal/OSHA has determined that all required protective measures for its farm workers were complied with, the enforcers said.

Len Welsh, Chief of Cal/OSHA said that investigators found that workers at Rheingans Farms had no access to shade and had no water. The employer also had no heat illness prevention program and no provision on how to respond to an emergency. Similarly, at Greenfield, workers were also found working in the same conditions.

Cal/ OSHA had issued each of the employers An Order Prohibiting Use (OPU) to halt their operations until they come into full compliance with the heat illness prevention standard.

California became the first state in the nation to develop a safety and health regulation addressing heat illness in 2005. Cal/OSHA issued permanent heat illness prevention regulations to protect outdoor workers in 2006.

The agency urged employers to visit their website at http://www.dir.ca.gov/heatillness, for more information on heat illness prevention and training materials visit the Cal/OSHA Web site. Employees can also call the California Workers’ Information Hotline at 1-866-924-9757 for complaints or questions.