In order to protect outdoor workers, the Senator Alex Padilla visited the city of Delano, in the Valley, last week to promote the Law for the Prevention of Fatalities and Heat Illnesses of Asunción Valdivia, seeking to help those who, among other tasks, put food on our tables.
The bill requires the Department of Labor to promulgate an occupational safety or health standard on the prevention of exposure to excessive heat, which includes exposure to heat indoors or outdoors at levels that exceed the body's ability to maintain normal bodily functions and can cause heat-related injury, illness or fatality.
In addition, the bill establishes requirements related to training and education to prevent and respond to heat illness and the protection of whistleblowers.
This push comes after July 2023 was recorded as the hottest in the country, putting 170 million Americans under extreme heat alerts.
"Every day we don't act is another day someone puts their life on the line in their effort to provide for their family," said Senator Padilla.
During his visit to "The Forty Acres" in Delano, the Democrat said that "this is not just an issue of workers' rights, it affects the moral heart of our nation and yes, we need to do more."
The legislation is named after Asunción Valdivia, who, in 2004, after picking grapes for ten hours straight at 40 degrees Celsius, Asunción Valdivia fell unconscious. Instead of calling an ambulance, his boss told Mr. Valdivia's son to take his father home.
On the way home, he began to foam at the mouth and died of heat stroke. Due to a lack of preventative heat safety measures and emergency plans, a son had to witness a preventable death at the age of 53.
Mr. Valdivia's death was completely preventable, but his story is not unique. Teresa Romero, president of the United Farm Workers Foundation, and who accompanied Senator Padilla during his tour, recalled that on August 8, Elidio Hernández, 59, died of heat stress while working near Fresno.
“He told his supervisor that he was not feeling well. His supervisor told him to continue working when he collapsed, no one called 911. He died in the field," Teresa Romero said.
Padilla acknowledged that California already has strict laws, however, he assured that they need to exist throughout the country.
The federal official reminded people who work in extreme heat that they have rights, and can file complaints with Cal/OSHA by calling 833-579-0927.
It should be noted that, if the Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatalities Prevention Bill is accepted, it would order the Occupational Health and Safety Administration to promulgate a rule that requires employers to implement certain measures to protect workers from the heat stress and related illnesses or injuries.
Heat stress refers to the heat load experienced by a person due to heat sources or heat retention?including metabolic heat, environmental factors, and personal protective clothing or equipment? or the presence of heat in a work environment.
Also, if an employer cannot reduce heat stress exposures below dangerous levels through engineering controls ?p. g., heat shields and insulation? or personal protective equipment ?clothing that reflects heat?, the employer must implement a program that mitigates such exposure through access to appropriate hydration and cooling spaces, acclimatization policies, and periodic paid breaks.
In addition, the bill would establish requirements related to judicial review, implementation, enforcement, record keeping, and whistleblower protection related to the rule.
The bill also requires the Department of Labor to include questions about heat-related illnesses and injuries in the National Survey of Farmworkers—an employment-based, random sample survey of U.S. farmworkers that collects demographic information. , labor and health?
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