FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- New state regulations will guarantee outdoor workers toiling under the blazing California sun a quart of water each hour, training to recognize heat stroke symptoms and shade to escape the heat if they start feeling ill.þþThe measures come as the state's workplace safety board investigates whether the heat led to 10 deaths and four illnesses on the job since July 12.þþFour of the deaths were in the fields, including Salud Zamudio Rodriguez, who collapsed of heatstroke between rows of bell peppers on a 108-degree day, and Agustin Gudino, who died after working a 10-hour shift picking grapes in similar heat.þþFour of the other deaths were in construction. One was a moving company employee, and one worked for a utility company.þþAll of the cases except one -- the heat illness of a police cadet in Oakland -- were in California's Central Valley, home to the nation's most productive farms, where relentless sunshine kept temperatures above 100 for more than three weeks this summer.þþThe rules go into effect next week and will standardize practices some companies employ, such as teaching about the danger of working in the sun. Employers who fail to comply can be criminally prosecuted.þþJuan Cruz, the brother of one of the men who died in the fields this summer, said he hopes the rules will improve work conditions. ''I don't want this to happen to anyone else,'' he said. ''I worry, but there's no other work for us.''þþBut whether the regulations duplicate existing ones and how the rules will be implemented remains unclear.þþPat Ricchiuti, president of the Fresno County Farm Bureau, said the problem is that ''people sitting in an air-conditioned office are making rules for people out in the field.''þþAmong the chief concerns for the industry is how to provide shade in an open field, or by the side of a highway construction project stretching through vast, arid plains.þþFarmers such as John Giumarra, whose family has been a leader in California's grape industry for decades, believe the dappled shade of a peach tree or canopy of grape vines might be the only shade to offer among acres of crops.þþGiumarra said he was doing what he could by providing water and work breaks throughout the day. But labor leaders say an emphasis on speed and cash incentives makes it harder for many laborers to rest and get the water they need.þþ''The fight's been going on for years,'' said Arturo Rodriguez, president of the United Farm Workers. ''It took these deaths to make it happen.''þþ
Source: NY Times
