Extreme heat takes toll on Latino workers’ physical and mental health

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Workers’ advocates are urging local, state and federal governments to implement safety standards to protect the physical and mental well-being of Latinos who work under unrelenting heat conditions. Farmworkers—the majority of whom in the U.S. are Latino—and others who work outside are especially vulnerable to the heat waves gripping parts of the country. Farmworkers in particular are more likely to die from heat stress than other outdoor workers, studies have found.

Since 2011, there have been 436 work-related deaths caused by environmental heat exposure, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Last month, Efraín López García, who was 29 and picked fruit in Florida, died after what his family described as severe heat illness symptoms. There are no federal rules that require employers to give outdoor workers breaks or time in the shade and to hydrate. Of the few states that offer protections for outdoor workers, California, Oregon and Washington have the most, including required heat breaks.

Without protections, people doing outdoor work say they fear being penalized — and sometimes are — when they try to get water or take a short break in the shade.

Advocates say that protections should go beyond water and shade breaks.