Training aims at preventing heat illness in farmworkers

By Anna Genasci

Farm Bureau members from across the country gathered in Anaheim earlier this year for the American Farm Bureau Federation Convention and rolled up their sleeves for a service project with a purpose: Assembling heat illness prevention kits for California farmworkers. 

The kits, filled with practical items that included sun hats, reusable water bottles, cooling towels and other heat-safety resources, were designed to help workers stay safe during California’s hot agricultural season.

Those kits made their way into the hands of farmworkers in the Central Valley last week. The California Farm Bureau-affiliated Farm Employers Labor Service, or FELS, in partnership with the California Farmworker Foundation, met directly with farmworkers to distribute the bags and conduct a tailgate training focused on heat illness prevention.

The training reinforced important practices for preventing heat illness in the field, including staying hydrated, recognizing the signs and symptoms of heat illness, using available shade and knowing how to respond when a coworker shows signs of heat-related illness.

The partnership brought together organizations serving California agriculture from different perspectives. CFF works to create opportunities for farmworkers to develop personal and professional skills, while FELS has partnered with California farm employers on workplace compliance and human resources management since 1970.

What began as a hands-on service project among Farm Bureau members became a practical resource for the people working in California agriculture. By pairing the heat illness prevention kits with face-to-face training, FELS and CFF were able to turn that effort into an opportunity for education, outreach and worker safety in the field.

Anna Genasci is general manager of the California Farm Bureau-affiliated Farm Employers Labor Service. She can be reached at agenasci@cfbf.com.

In this edition…

• View full issue
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• El Niño increases chances of winter storms and floods
• Everyone wins when farms invest in their employees
• New DWR director discusses water resiliency plans
• Irrigation can't shield tomatoes from extreme heat
• Owl study assesses rat management in nut orchards
• What is the best strategy to manage Botryosphaeria?
• Wage-and-hour questions from the field
• Vineyard adaptation to heat an economic balancing act
• Advocacy in Action: Dairy, water, wolves and trade
• Are irrigation jets right for your orchard or vineyard?
• Training aims at preventing heat illness in farmworkers