State probes 12 possible worker heat deaths

http://www.pe.com/ap_news/California/CA_Heat_Deaths_352481C.shtml

By GARANCE BURKE

The Associated Press

FRESNO

Labor officials said Friday they were investigating whether a rash of early season heat waves had caused the deaths of a record number of California workers by summer's peak.

Despite an enforcement push to protect employees toiling in the searing conditions outdoors, 12 people have died of possible heat-related causes in the first seven months of this year alone, according to the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health.

Half of those victims were agriculture workers, several of whom died after harvesting grapes in triple-digit heat.

The latest to fall was 38-year-old vineyard worker Jorge Herrera, who died Thursday after spending weeks in a Bakersfield hospital following his collapse on July 10.

"When a heat wave hits, people have to be aware that it can be a fatal hazard," said Dean Fryer, a spokesman for the division known as Cal-OSHA. "That is exactly what we have been hammering away all summer to employer groups and employee groups."

Health and safety inspectors have made dozens of spot and routine visits to fields and construction sites in the last two months trying to root out employers who don't provide safe working conditions when temperatures soar.

FULL story at link.

I don't know how they can do that :o