PESTICIDE AND WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY PROJECT
The Pesticide + Work Health + Safety Project works to shed light on and reduce agricultural work hazards and pesticide exposures faced by California’s agricultural workers and other rural residents.
The Project maintains an ongoing dialog with Cal-OSHA (a governmental agency created in 1973 to ensure safety and health in California workplaces), and local, state and federal pesticide regulatory officials to encourage more thorough investigations and stricter enforcement of existing laws and regulations, improvements in regulations, and increased use of safer and more sustainable pest control alternatives. We also provide technical assistance to legal services programs and community organizations on developing outreach materials, accessing and understanding pesticide and work safety laws, regulations, public records and improving the response to pesticide poisoning and workplace safety incidents, and by expanding language access in reporting processes. The Project collaborates with various coalitions and 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.
CRLAF’s Recently Supported Pesticide + Work Safety Legislation
CRLAF and other environmental health and farmworker advocacy organizations urge the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to adhere to proven science when assessing the safety of chemicals regulated under its statutory authority, and warn against the misuse of New Approach Methods (NAMs) to designate pesticides and other harmful chemicals as safe. A fact sheet (English version) (Spanish version) explains that NAMs - which are mostly unproven and include biochemical, molecular, and cell-based assays and computational models widely promoted by the chemical industry as an alternative to rodent tests - “frequently understate or incorrectly evaluate hazard and risk with potentially harmful consequences for workers, families, wildlife and ecosystems."
Cal-OSHA Advocacy
The Project recently helped defeat a petition to revise Cal-OSHA regulations to allow autonomous tractor use. Agricultural industry representatives were interested in using autonomous tractors to move trailers on farm roads and in the fields; driverless vehicle technology does not have a proven record of reliability, which poses a substantial safety threat to those working on the ground.
CRLAF assisted in the adoption of Cal-OSHA’s COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard, and later in Cal-OSHA’s non-emergency COVID infection prevention standard. The Project advocated for the extension of Cal-OSHA’s COVID-19 workplace regulations, preserving some key protections in indoor worksites and employer-provided housing.
CRLAF additionally continues to participate in Cal-OSHA’s advisory committee to review and finalize a standard workplace violence prevention standard, to include risks beyond physical injury and required review of workplace violence plans after any incident.
Lighting for Night-time Agricultural Work
CRLAF led advocacy efforts for a regulation specifying lighting requirements for night-time agricultural work that specifies minimum lighting levels, for work and rest areas and pathways to restrooms and inside restrooms and requires the provision of high visibility safety garments to workers and safety meetings at the beginning of each shift orienting employees night-time work. Adequate lighting in night agricultural work is crucial for preventing injuries from collisions, slips, falls, cuts and bites as well as reducing eye strain and fatigue and workplace violence risks.
Protection from Wildfire Smoke
As California wildfires have increased in size and frequency, a growing number of farmworkers and other outdoor workers have been expected to remain working under very smoky conditions without any respiratory protection or safety training. To address this, CRLAF and other labor and community organizations petitioned successfully for a temporary then permanent emergency wildfire smoke protection regulation. CRLAF has advocated at county and state levels to prohibit or strictly limit access for work within wildfire evacuation zones.
Protection from Pesticides
The Pesticide + Work Health + Safety Project actively collaborates with the coalition Californians for Pesticide Reform to compel the California Department of Pesticide Regulation and the County Agricultural Commissioners to improve pesticide regulation enforcement and language access at the county level.
CRLAF also works to tighten restrictions on use of soil fumigants and other hazardous pesticides and to promote development and use of safer, more sustainable pest management practices. We provide technical legal assistance on legal cases involving pesticide use across the state, and continue advocating for enforceable regulations that protect farmworkers and other rural residents from exposure to the carcinogenic soil fumigant 1,3 dichloropropene above the No Significant Risk Level set by Cal-EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.
"California farmworkers suffer more heat deaths and illnesses than any other workers in outdoor industries."
- Mauricio Pena, The Desert Sun
Heat Stress Protection for Outdoor Workers
CRLAF played a major role in advocating for more protective Cal-OSHA heat stress prevention regulations, requiring employers to provide workers enough shade during meal and rest periods to allow workers respite from sun and severe heat. Employers must also ensure that field managers are trained in how to identify and provide emergency medical assistance to farmworkers showing signs of heat illness. Heat exposure is an increasing danger to agricultural workers and other workers across the state.
CRLAF actively supports Cal-OSHA's Indoor Heat Illness Prevention Standard expansion of specific heat protections for workers in produce and meat packing, warehouses, and other indoor worksites where heat is a hazard.