A sweltering heat wave blanketed Los Angeles and much of the West in recent weeks. When many of us can seek refuge indoors, often in the comfort of air conditioning, those who work outside must continue pushing through the high temperatures.
“We need to recognize heat is a killer and the number one health hazard to farmworkers now,” says Dr. Marc Schenker, founding director of the UC Davis Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety.
“When I started doing this a few decades ago, everything was about pesticides. Heat wasn’t even on the radar. Now that’s completely reversed,” explains Schenke, a physician who has worked in agriculture for decades.
Joaquin's dumping onions in Boardman WA. Back breaking work in direct sun, sometimes in 110° temps. Joaquin shares, "This is the reality for farmworkers. We're essential. We give 110% in the fields. Now it's time Senators do their part & pass #FarmWorkerLegalization." #WeAreHome pic.twitter.com/aMcBR1YrXX
— United Farm Workers (@UFWupdates) August 9, 2021
Every year, more than 600 people die from extreme heat in the United States. For farmworkers, that can often be needless. “Rest, water, shade are not high-tech medicine. It’s basic to reduce heat gain and protect workers … that’s part of the tragedy,” says Schenker.
The number one risk factor is workload. Metabolic heat — the heat generated by doing physical work — accounts for 40 to 50% of the body’s heat, according to Schenker. To prevent this from rising too much, workers must reduce the amount of work with rest time in the shade or even eliminate work entirely if it's too hot, says Schenker.
However, given the notoriously tough working conditions on some farms, that’s not an option. Schenker believes heat is the “perfect storm.”
“As you have increasing temperatures, you have ripening of the crops with more need to do work, not less. And you can't just stop in from the farmer's perspective and say, ‘Well, we'll come back tomorrow when the weather isn't so hot.’”
Those who are the most vulnerable and impacted are immigrants and non-English speakers.
“They see the most fatalities and the most injuries from heat stress because they have limited alternatives. … The ones who don’t have a choice [are] often undocumented and threatened with being deported if they have any health problems they complain about.”
Meanwhile, California is the first state to offer heat regulations in the nation. In comparison, a state like North Carolina has five times the rate of heat fatalities as California.
Schenker says the United States urgently needs federal heat standards to reduce deaths driven by heat.
“It’s a catastrophe. Nationally, only four states have a standard, which leaves hundreds of thousands of workers unprotected. Federal OSHA has really dropped the ball on this,” says Schenker.
He says federal OSHA has never been effective in the agricultural workplace and that’s the problem. “There should be an emergency temporary standard right now. … We need to grapple with this at a national level.”