California Heat Puts Farm Workers at Risk

California’s drought has forced cities to cut back on water and (some) farmers to let their fields go fallow. But increasingly hot, dry weather in the state may have its most dire effect on some of the people who plant and pick its crops.

According to Esther Yu-Hsi Lee at ThinkProgress, extreme summer heat in California is putting farm workers at risk of illness and death.

The United Farm Workers union believes around 30 workers died from heat-related causes between 2005 and 2013, including one worker who was just 17 years old. California occupational health regulations require that employers provide shade when the temperature goes above 80, frequent breaks when it exceeds 95, and a water source “located as close as it is feasible to place it to the areas where employees are working..."

http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/09/03/california-heat-puts-farm-workers-at-risk/?ref=topics