SLO County workers harvest crops in triple-digit heat. How are farms keeping them safe?
An unrelenting heat wave has swept across the Central Coast, shattering heat records and creating difficult working conditions for farm workers.
“Farm workers are literally at the front line of the heat wave,” said CAUSE policy advocate Erica Diaz-Cervantes, whose organization works with immigrant farm workers to inform workers about their rights and ensure that employers respect their rights. “Each year it seems like the heat gets a little more unbearable.”
Inland areas of San Luis Obispo County such as Paso Robles have seen triple-digit temperatures over the past few days, while San Luis Obispo hit a record high of 106 degrees on Saturday — and the heat is sticking around.
The National Weather Service extended SLO County’s excessive heat warning from Aug. 31. to Thursday at 8 p.m., with temperatures as high as 112 degrees Fahrenheit in the North County.
That’s why California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) planned to conduct targeted inspections of outdoor agricultural worksites through Wednesday due to the heat wave, the agency said in a news release.
Inspections will check that employees offer outdoor workers fresh water, shade in 80-degree Fahrenheit heat and cool-down breaks along with regular breaks, as well as a “written prevention plan with training on the signs of heat illness,” the release said.
When the temperature tops 95 degrees, employers must regularly observe employees for signs of heat illness and provide enough free, fresh water for workers to drink at least one quart per hour, the release said.
Diaz-Cervantes said some employers don’t keep drinking water cold throughout the day, so “the water that they’re drinking isn’t cooling down their body temperature,” she said.
She said it’s important for Cal/OSHA to regularly inspect worksites to ensure they’re following safety standards and protecting workers.
Farm workers are vulnerable to heat stroke, Diaz-Cervantes said. They work in the direct sunlight and must wear thick pants and long-sleeve shirts to protect themselves from pesticides, she said.
When workers feel symptoms of heat stroke such as headaches and dizziness, “a lot of them hesitate to express it,” Diaz-Cervantes said. “They don’t want to go home and lose their income.”
How are Central Coast farms protecting workers in hot weather?
West Coast Berry Farms, which owns multiple strawberry farms in Santa Maria, is taking measures to protect workers from the heat, company spokesperson Cindy Jewell said.
The farms begin their harvests at 7 a.m. when the temperature is cooler, Jewell wrote in an email to The Tribune.
If “supervisors on site are concerned for employee heath, he or she will send everyone home for the day,” Jewell wrote.
The farms also offer shade, water, ice and extra breaks to their staff, and train field personnel on how to prevent heat stroke, she said.
“We are very concerned about our staff during heat waves and take every precaution along with training to ensure health and safety,” Jewell wrote.
Five field employees at Halcyon Farms in Arroyo Grande have been harvesting crops such as tomatoes, blackberries and green beans despite the heat wave.
The farm is about a mile from the ocean, so coastal breezes have capped the high temperatures in the 80s during the past week, Halcyon Farms owner Ariela Gottschalk said.
Still, she said, “That feels really hot.”
On Tuesday, the temperature peaked at about 78 degrees in Arroyo Grande. The farm’s field crew members started the harvest at 7 a.m., that day, then escaped the heat in the afternoon by assembling harvest bags in the shade of a shed, Gottschalk said.
The harvest normally starts at 7 a.m., she said, because it’s better to harvest produce early in the day when the weather is cool to keep it from wilting. This is especially important for leafy greens, as their leaves lose water in the heat, she said.
When the temperature exceeds 80 degrees, the farm workers avoid heavy labor and stick to activities such as setting up sprinklers and weeding, she said.
When the temperature tops 90 degrees, Gottschalk brings her workers inside to complete tasks including sharpening tools or cleaning the barn.
If it’s too hot outside, the farm will eventually send workers home, she said.
“We wouldn’t keep everybody out there if it’s super hot,” Gottschalk said.
Activist: Vineyard workers denied breaks, cold water during heat wave
Field workers at a Santa Barbara County vineyard suffered through a heat wave earlier this summer, according to CAUSE associate organizing director Zulema Aleman.
The vineyard stored the staff’s drinking water in an outdoor tank for days at a time, and the water grew warm and musty, Aleman said.
One of the workers pushed the vineyard to provide cold, clean water to staff, offer more heat breaks and release workers early on dangerously hot days — but the vineyard refused, Aleman said.
“These individuals are out there doing manual labor nonstop,” Aleman said. “That can be deadly.”
The vineyard also required workers to sign a form each day stating that they understood the company’s heat illness training.
The forms were written in Spanish or English, but most of the workers speak Indigenous languages from Mexico and couldn’t read the fliers, Aleman said. Still, they weren’t allowed to return to work until they signed.
The worker who complained about working conditions speaks Mixtec, an indigenous language of Mexico, in addition to Spanish and English, Aleman explained, so he tried to translate the form to workers who needed assistance.
The worker’s supervisors asked him to stop, he said.
After the worker asked the company for better working conditions, he and two other women were fired, Aleman said. The company hired those employees back only after CAUSE helped them file a complaint with the Agricultural Labor Relations Board.
“Money is replaceable but human lives aren’t,” the worker told Aleman. “My life is more valuable that what you can earn in a day.”
Farm workers across the Central Coast suffer from similar working conditions during each heat wave, Aleman said.
Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project labor organizer Fernando Martinez advised field workers to drink water every 15 minutes and wear light-colored clothing on hot days to deflect the sun.
Workers can reach out to his agency’s office through its website at mixteco.org/contact if their employers aren’t providing the proper equipment to protect them from the heat.
Martinez said the agency will connect with Cal/OSHA to ask for a worksite inspection.
Farm workers do essential work for the community, Diaz-Cervantes said, and they should have safe working conditions.
“It’s important to remember they provide our fresh produce, they work in these unbearable conditions to provide for their family and to provide food for the community,” Diaz-Cervantes said.
This story was originally published September 7, 2022 at 2:08 PM with the headline "SLO County workers harvest crops in triple-digit heat. How are farms keeping them safe?."
