Protecting crop workers under the sun and smoke

In the Pacific Northwest, cherries, peaches, plums and many other fruits mean summer — thanks to the people who harvest them. As climate change makes our region’s summers increasingly hot and smoky, researchers and policymakers are becoming more concerned about the health impacts on these agricultural workers.

“Agriculture workers, especially crop and tree fruit workers, often must work outside regardless of temperature or air quality,” said John Flunker, a postdoctoral researcher in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS). “Harvesting duties frequently coincide with extreme heat or wildfire smoke. So, they're really on the frontlines of exposure.” 

In the past two years, the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) implemented new permanent rules designed to protect outdoor workers from health impacts related to heat and wildfire smoke. 

In August, a team led by Flunker and Dr. Coralynn Sack, an assistant professor in DEOHS and the UW Department of Medicine, headed out to several apple farms in Washington’s Yakima Valley to get a clearer picture of how these stressors affect crop workers’ health and how the new rules are being implemented in the field. 

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