US Health Secretary Xavier Becerra meets with farmworkers to talk extreme heat

California is one of a handful of states that has mandatory heat protections for outdoor workers. photo credit: Courtesy of Farmworker Justice
Farmworkers picking peppers in Gilroy.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra met with workers at a Sacramento-area farm to talk about the impacts of extreme heat and wildfire smoke.

Elizabeth Lizarde is one of the farmworkers who met with Beccera. She’s worked at a Clarksburg farm for the last 16 years.

" Es un trabajo sumamente difícil trabajar en condiciones, ya sea de calor, ya sea de lluvia frío," she said in Spanish.

She says the work is extremely difficult in certain conditions, whether it’s from heat or cold rain. She adds that in extreme cold, it can be hard to work because your body gets too cold to function.

California is one of a handful of states that has mandatory heat protections for outdoor workers. But earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Labor released a proposed rule which would set federal regulations to better protect them from heat-related illness or death.

Becerra says it’s still a work in progress.

" It is tough and we owe everyone who's working to put food on our table the best to make sure that they're working under the safest conditions possible," Becerra said.

The move comes as more heat records are broken globally.