Programs: Worker Safety
Agriculture consistently ranks as one of the most hazardous occupations in the nation. Farmworkers have few federal workplace safety protections. Farmworker Justice works with partners to inform farmworkers of legal safety standards and to connect them to community resources to support their occupational safety and health.
Farmworker Justice partners with community organizations to provide training on issues that pertain to worker safety, including heat illness prevention, sexual assault, pesticides, and skin cancer prevention and screening. Farmworker Justice engages in capacity-building, developing issue briefs, trainings, and educational materials on prevention, workplace rights, and community resources for advocates, service providers, and workers. These materials are available in our Resource Center.
SEXUAL ASSAULT IN THE FIELDS
Farmworker women frequently experience sexual harassment and assault in the fields, but these crimes often go unreported to law enforcement out of fear of harassment or retaliation. Farmworker Justice’s Sembrando Respeto and Cosechando Dignidad, provides training and resources to farmworker women on workplace protections and how to access community support services. See Resources here...
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HEAT SAFETY TRAINING PROJECT
Farmworkers are 35 times more likely to die from heat-related illness than other workers. Farmworker Justice created a heat safety training toolkit through an OSHA Susan Harwood Training grant. The toolkit provides information on heat-illness prevention in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole to make sure farmworkers are armed with the best health and safety practices when it comes to extreme heat.
SKIN CANCER SCREENING AND PREVENTION
ReUnidos: Farmworker Connections to Skin Cancer Care project adapted a community worker health navigator program to address the social determinants of health (SDOH) experienced by farmworker patients when accessing specialty care. Working with AIM at Melanoma, Vista Community Clinic, and Finger Lakes Community Health, we facilitated the timely diagnosis and treatment of skin cancer in rural communities in upstate New York and San Diego County, California. ReUnidos built on a previous Farmworker Justice project, “United Eliminating Barriers to Skin Cancer Prevention (Unidos),” that focused on skin cancer prevention, education, and screening. R...
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PESTICIDES
The Environmental Protection Agency’s Worker Protection Standard protects farmworkers from pesticide-related injuries and illness. However, workers may not know about the health effects or symptoms related to pesticide exposure and may be reluctant to seek medical care. Farmworker Justice works with partners to make sure both farmworkers and the health centers that serve them know about the potential hazards and symptoms of pesticides.
