Gov. Kate Brown directs Oregon workplace safety agency to adopt emergency heat rules after farmworker death
Gov. Kate Brown on Tuesday directed the state’s workplace safety agency to adopt emergency rules to protect workers from extreme heat.
Her announcement comes after a farmworker died at a Marion County nursery on June 26 as Oregon entered an unprecedented heat wave.
Activists have been pushing the state to adopt rules to protect workers from extreme heat for years and had called on Oregon to enact emergency rules prior to the heat wave. The state is drafting permanent rules to protect workers from extreme heat and wildfire smoke, but a deadline to submit a proposal for those rules was pushed back to September due to the pandemic.
The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division, known as Oregon OSHA, is expected to adopt emergency rules to protect workers from extreme heat by the end of the week at Brown’s direction as the agency continues to work on the permanent rules.
The temporary rules will expand requirements for employers to provide shade, rest time and cool water for workers during extreme heat events, according to the state.
The state did not indicate whether those rules would set temperature thresholds at which employers must suspend operations. Worker advocates have called on the state to require employers move work to cooler areas or suspend operations once temperatures reach hazardous levels.
Oregon OSHA has not announced whether it will adopt similar emergency rules to protect workers from wildfire smoke.
“All Oregonians should be able to go to work knowing that conditions will be safe and that they will return home to their families at the end of the day,” Brown said in a statement. “While Oregon OSHA has been working to adopt permanent rules related to heat, it became clear that immediate action was necessary in order to protect Oregonians, especially those whose work is critical to keeping Oregon functioning and oftentimes must continue during extreme weather.”
Sebastian Francisco Perez, a Guatemalan immigrant, arrived in the U.S. on May 5 to work at Ernst Nursery and Farms. He had been working on a crew moving irrigations lines before he was found unresponsive in the field at the end of his shift, according to Oregon OSHA. Temperatures in St. Paul reached 104 degrees that day.
Oregon OSHA attributed Perez’ death to heat in their preliminary incident description. In the wake of Perez’ death, the agency has opened an investigation into Ernst Nursery and Farms and Brother Farm Labor Contractor, which provided workers to the farm. The investigation could take three to four months to complete.
Ernst Nursery and Farms was previously cited in 2014 for failing to provide water to its workers.
At least 107 people died during the state’s unprecedented heat wave at the end of June, according to the Oregon Medical Examiner’s Office. Perez was the only person that died on the job during the heat wave, according to Oregon OSHA, but the agency was unable to immediately provide The Oregonian/OregonLive with information on whether it had received other complaints or opened any other investigations related to worker safety during the heat wave.
Brown announced Tuesday that she had directed state agencies to complete a review to determine how Oregon can improve its response to future heat waves and better protect the health of Oregonians, especially low-income Oregonians, during extreme weather events.