A ‘slap in the face:’ Farmworker groups decry law preventing heat rules

Agriculture is the second-largest industry in Florida after tourism, and Central Florida has three of the state’s top 10 producing counties: Polk, Orange and Lake.

Although states such as Washington, Minnesota, California, Oregon, and Colorado have laws protecting those who toil in the heat, Florida lacks such standards for its 2 million outdoor workers. A law that takes effect on July 1 will kill any chance that cities and counties can respond to the problem.

Among other things, HB 433 prevents local governments from enacting heat protection requirements. Supporters say federal safety standards are sufficient and non-uniform local ordinances would burden employers.

The bill, backed by business groups and opposed by workers rights organizations, passed on the last day of the 2024 legislative session and signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis in April.

The law’s passage was a “slap in the face” to farmworkers, said Jeannie Economos, who coordinates safety programs for the Farmworker Association of Florida.

“Industry folks that pushed through this preemption bill … have been saying that employers already protect their workers,” said Economos. “If that were true, we wouldn’t be hearing complaints from workers all the time that they need protections.”

Rising temperatures

Last year was most of Florida’s hottest summer on record, and this year will once again bring unusually brutal heat, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts.

With heat comes heat stroke. Emergency department visits soared alongside temperatures in 2023, breaking records in many states with 119,605 total heat-related visits nationally, a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report found.

AdventHealth Central Florida confirmed a 20% surge in patients seeking care for heat-related illnesses during the region’s hottest months last year.

“Extreme heat is affecting the health of all Floridians … and the most vulnerable populations are outdoor workers. The ways to prevent and treat heat illness are very simple, but if we don’t implement them or have a working knowledge of them, it’s a deadly disease,” said Shauna Junco, Florida Clinicians for Climate Action Board president.

Warning signs of heat illness include hot, red, or damp skin, fast pulse, dizziness, nausea, headaches, fainting or a body temperature above 103 degrees fahrenheit. Without intervention, these symptoms can escalate to organ damage or death.

Beyond heat’s immediate effects, research suggests that heat exposure over time can cause or worsen conditions such as heart attacks, stroke or kidney failure. This is why heat is often called the “silent killer” and its impact is believed to be underestimated, Junco said.

“It’s insidious,” Junco said. “It’s often not recognized that heat is what caused someone to die or to have an exacerbation or acute worsening of a chronic medical condition.”

A study by Emory University and Farmworker Association of Florida researchers found Central Florida agricultural workers’ core body temperatures exceeded the safety limit of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit on 49 of 86 workdays.

In another study, researchers found that a majority of workers were dehydrated, one-third of workers experienced acute kidney injury on at least one of the study days, and the odds of kidney injury increased 47% for each 5-degree Fahrenheit increase in the heat index.

Research into heat’s impacts on Florida’s farmworkers is ongoing.

A 2019 editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine argued the world has entered a “new era of climate-health crises” and kidney failure is “likely to be just one of many heat-sensitive illnesses that will be unmasked and accelerated by climate change.”

‘It’s not complicated’

Advocates are calling for increased regulations to cope with rising temperatures.

HB 433 came after Miami-Dade in 2023 considered a proposal to require construction and agriculture companies to take several steps to keep workers safe from the heat. It was not approved.

During the 2024 legislative session, farmworkers traveled to Tallahassee to advocate for SB 762/HB 945, a pair of worker heat stress protection bills that failed to get a committee hearing.

Dr. Martin Derrow, a retired internal medicine physician based in metro Orlando and a member of Clinicians for Climate Action, emphasized the simplicity of the proposed measures.

“It’s not complicated,” Derrow said. “They need to be able to get to water. They need to have access to shade if they need it. … fairly rudimentary measures that you would think would be pretty routine, should be available, but are not always available.”

A preamble in the original version of the preemption bill, HB 433, argues that heat regulations fall under federal purview.

“[The Occupational Safety and Health Administration] has imposed and enforced standards and regulations governing workplace heat exposure for more than two decades and currently creates and publishes best practices, guidance, advice, and educational materials about working in hot environments,” it reads.

But OSHA does not currently have any specific heat regulations, though it began the process of establishing heat-specific workplace standards in 2021.

It does enforce a rule that requires employers to create workplaces “free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm.” Courts have previously interpreted that to include heat-related hazards, and OSHA has vowed to intensify enforcement and increase inspections in industries like farming and construction in order to address heat-related deaths.

Fear prevents enforcement

Yet Economos argues that federal oversight is insufficient.

Florida farmworkers are largely undocumented, low-income immigrants who speak little English and are not in a position to negotiate, she said, adding that they often work in rural areas far from medical services

“Workers, especially undocumented but even documented workers, are afraid to say anything,” Economos said. “They can come to us, and we can try and file a complaint, but that’s really hard. And workers tell us that their supervisor will harass them, or threaten them, or laugh at them if they try and say something about it.”

Dominique O’Connor, climate justice organizer for the Farmworker Association of Florida, agreed.

“Usually OSHA only gets involved when a death occurs. So it’s not helping with prevention,” O’Connor said.

Days after DeSantis signed the preemption bill into law, OSHA ruled that a 26-year-old South Florida farmworker died of heatstroke in September 2023 because his employer failed to provide adequate heat protection.

Ccatherman@orlandosentinel.com; @CECatherman on X