In the Central Valley, farm workers face extreme heat during harvest, with temperatures reaching 110 degrees and inadequate safety measures. Despite California's enactment of heat safety regulations nearly 20 years ago, enforcement has failed to improve worker safety. Insufficient inspectors, light penalties, and slow investigations allow dangerous conditions to persist. The changing climate exacerbates the situation, leading to more severe heat and unforeseen dangers, including immigration raids. Consequently, many families receive death certificates rather than paychecks due to the hazards of farm work in extreme conditions.
The heat climbs before breakfast, holding on until the stars are out, leading to collapses in the dirt and families receiving death certificates instead of paychecks.
California enacted the nation's first heat rules for basic worker safety two decades ago, believing they would be enough, but the grim reaper still walks the rows.
This is not a failure of the law itself, but of enforcement. Some treated the bill's signing as the finish line instead of the starting gun.
Inspectors are too few, penalties too light, and investigations too slow – leading to an obituary for Cal/OSHA's credibility, with outdated rules and missed chances.
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