The Pesticide and Work Safety Project works to bring to light and reduce agricultural work hazards and pesticide exposures faced by California’s agricultural workers and other rural residents. The project maintains a dialog with OSHA and local, state and federal pesticide regulatory officials to encourage more thorough investigations and stricter enforcement of existing laws and regulations and increased use of safer and more sustainable pest control alternatives. The project also provides technical assistance to legal services programs and community organizations on developing outreach materials, accessing and understanding pesticide and work safety laws and regulations and public records and responding to pesticide poisoning incidents. We collaborate with members of other non-profit organizations to educate policy makers, agency officials and the public about heat stress, pesticide exposure and other work and environmental health and safety hazards affecting California’s farmworkers and other rural poor. We recently produced a pesticide exposure prevention and response video for farmworkers which focuses on workers rights.

Anne Katten, Pesticide and Work Safety Project Director.

Anne has worked with CRLAF for the past 19 years conducting oversight on Cal-OSHA and county, state and federal pesticide regulatory programs, reviewing pesticide illness episode investigations, advocating for improved enforcement and policy changes to reduce exposure of farmworkers to pesticides and other work hazards. She has been involved in Cal-OSHA advisory committees on hand-weeding, heat stress, ergonomics, tractor and ladder safety and numerous state and federal level stakeholder meeting on development of pesticide regulations. Anne has extensive experience collaborating with labor, environmental and community organizations and was a co-author of the Californians for Pesticide Reform reports Fields of Poison and Second Hand Pesticides: Airborne Pesticide Drift in California. She is an industrial hygienist with a Masters in Public Health.