| Abstract |
Climate change is predicted to cause dramatic changes in the environment, especially with increased episodes of heat, wildfires, and drought. However, very little is known about the effects of climate change on occupational risks of farmers and farmworkers in California. Ninety percent of the workers were Latino and considered a vulnerable population due to their low wages, low English literacy, limited access to health care, and immigration status. The goal of the project was to lessen the research gap and to address basic knowledge needs to reduce the climate-induced burden of disease for agricultural workers. This project designed an exploratory approach to address agricultural worker health and safety in the context of the risks posed by climate change and related extreme weather events. The approach included qualitative research, stakeholder engagement, and knowledge transfer. Investigators carried out qualitative research during the summer of 2018 using focus groups with farmworkers (nine groups, total of 70 participants) and individual interviews with agricultural employers (16) in the San Joaquin, Salinas, and Imperial Valleys of California. The objective of the interviews was to explore the knowledge and perceptions of climate change risks and experiences for the impact of extreme weather. The investigation outcomes found there are a range of perceived impacts of climate change that are associated with extreme weather events. Adverse health effects, such as respiratory symptoms, heat-related illness, exposure to vector-borne diseases, exposure to pesticides and poor air quality, along with slips and falls, were identified. Agricultural employers and farmworkers expressed differing perceptions of risk related to these impacts, while also assigning responsibility for workplace safety differently and expressed different levels of knowledge about the implications of climate change. During the course of these investigations, exposure to wildfire smoke emerged as an increasing risk that participants were unaware of and lacked information to address. Climate change is predicted to cause dramatic changes in the environment, especially with increased episodes of heat, wildfires, and drought. However, very little is known about the effects of climate change on occupational risks of farmers and farmworkers in California. Ninety percent of the workers were Latino and considered a vulnerable population due to their low wages, low English literacy, limited access to health care, and immigration status. The goal of the project was to lessen the research gap and to address basic knowledge needs to reduce the climate-induced burden of disease for agricultural workers. This project designed an exploratory approach to address agricultural worker health and safety in the context of the risks posed by climate change and related extreme weather events. The approach included qualitative research, stakeholder engagement, and knowledge transfer. Investigators carried out qualitative research during the summer of 2018 using focus groups with farmworkers (nine groups, total of 70 participants) and individual interviews with agricultural employers (16) in the San Joaquin, Salinas, and Imperial Valleys of California. The objective of the interviews was to explore the knowledge and perceptions of climate change risks and experiences for the impact of extreme weather. The investigation outcomes found there are a range of perceived impacts of climate change that are associated with extreme weather events. Adverse health effects, such as respiratory symptoms, heat-related illness, exposure to vector-borne diseases, exposure to pesticides and poor air quality, along with slips and falls, were identified. Agricultural employers and farmworkers expressed differing perceptions of risk related to these impacts, while also assigning responsibility for workplace safety differently and expressed different levels of knowledge about the implications of climate change. During the course of these investigations, exposure to wildfire smoke emerged as an increasing risk that participants were unaware of and lacked information to address. The research provided information about a number of specific challenges related to the nature of farm work and the interactions of agricultural employer and farmworker populations, such as the power dynamics and social/cultural differences that can result in insufficient worker protection. The findings of this project were disseminated widely online and through book chapters and published manuscripts. The project findings were used to develop wildfire smoke training materials for agricultural workers, as well as guidance and checklists for agricultural employers. Future research to define how extreme weather impacts agricultural workers is critical for the identification of evidence-based practices to reduce the burden of adverse health effects for the vulnerable farmworker population, particularly as extreme weather becomes both more frequent and more severe as a result of climate change. Research is also needed to evaluate local, state, and federal interventions-such as California's new wildfire smoke exposure regulation-to determine whether safety guidelines and interventions are successful in protecting workers during extreme weather events. |
