same effect: “It’s dirty. Your hands are black. If you make something [prepare food] after you’ve touched tobacco, it tastes sour.”219
Lack of Shade Many children interviewed by Human Rights Watch stated that they did not have the opportunity to shelter in shade during the workday. Some reported that the only shade available was inside vehicles used to transport the workers to the worksite, or in wooded areas when the worksite happened to be located near one. For example, Emilio R., a 16year-old worker in North Carolina, said, “The heat is the hardest thing. It was hot. I could manage everything but the heat was just unbearable. We’d try to work hard to rush to get out of the row to have some shade…. You’re mostly in the middle of the field where there’s really no cover.”220 Raul D., a 13-year-old worker in North Carolina said, “Some days my skin gets red and it feels like it’s burning on the inside. The worst thing? The heat from being out in the sun with no shade all day: that is really the worst thing.”221
Health Consequences of Inadequate Access to Water, Sanitation, and Shade The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Field Sanitation Standard requires agricultural employers with at least 10 employees to provide sufficient and accessible drinking water, hand-washing facilities, and toilets.222 According to OSHA: Farmworkers may suffer heat stroke and heat exhaustion from an insufficient intake of potable water, urinary tract infections due to urine retention from inadequate availability of toilets, agrichemical poisoning
219 Human Rights Watch interview with Lisandra P., 14, Boyle County, Kentucky, September 6, 2013. 220 Human Rights Watch interview with Emilio R., 16, Lenoir County, North Carolina, May 18, 2013. 221 Human Rights Watch interview with Raul D., 13, Wayne County, North Carolina, July 21, 2013. 222 OSHA’s 1987 Field Sanitation Standard, which is enforced by DOL’s Wage and Hour Division, requires agricultural
employers to provide workers with: (1) Cool and potable drinking water in sufficient amounts, dispensed by single-use drinking cups or by fountains and readily accessible to all; and (2) One toilet and a handwashing facility for each 20 employees, located within a quarter-mile walk. A farm that employs 10 or fewer employees and has not had an active temporary labor camp within the last 12 months is exempted from OSHA enforcement. Congress exempts small farms from enforcement of OSHA standards by attaching riders to annual appropriation bills. OSHA Field Sanitation Standard (1987), 52 Fed. Reg. 16050 (May 1, 1987), 29 C.F.R. sec. 1928.110.
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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MAY 2014