Battling the heat

MAYBE IF A PREVIOUS California governor had ordered employers to provide elementary safety measures for laborers working in extreme heat, Constantino Cruz, a 24-year-old farm laborer who collapsed in a Central Valley tomato field on July 21, would still be alive, providing for his wife and two small children in Oaxaca, Mexico.

On that fateful day, the temperature reached 105 degrees in western Kern County, where Cruz and his crew had been working for nine hours with a 15-minute break in the morning and a 20-minute break for lunch. Cruz is one of at least 13 California farmworkers who have died from working in the heat since 1990, when Rosa Elvia Durazo was killed by the tractor-trailer under which she had sought refuge from the sun. State officials ever since have been dithering over regulations that would stem such needless deaths, but it wasn’t until Tuesday that significant action was taken when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered emergency rules to protect farmworkers, construction crews and other outdoor workers.

Schwarzenegger deserves credit for having the courage to do what his predecessors wouldn’t: take on the state’s powerful agricultural interests to protect farm laborers, most of whom are illegal immigrants. Yet given that the provisions of his emergency order seem no more demanding than what the typical pet owner would do to protect a dog from overheating, it makes one wonder why it has taken 15 years to reach this point.

The only state regulation now addressing this issue stipulates that employers provide water -- no amount is specified -- for their workers. The new rules, subject to approval by Cal-OSHA before taking effect, require that every employee receive a quart of water for every hour worked. If a worker feels symptoms of heatstroke, he or she must be given at least five minutes in the shade to recover. The regulations also include an educational campaign to teach laborers and farmers how to spot symptoms of heatstroke and seek medical help. Employers who violate the rules could be prosecuted for criminal conduct.

The new rules are an encouraging start, but they don’t forestall the need for more comprehensive and permanent regulations. The Legislature is wrestling with the issue; last month the Assembly passed a bill by Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) that among other things would demand 10-minute breaks hourly for outdoor workers during heat waves. Lawmakers should also consider protecting laborers who work under extreme heat indoors.

Employers in these industries have a legitimate need to control costs. But when penny-pinching threatens lives, the state must intervene.