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US (CA): 1,500 farmworkers suffered injuries working at night

Between 2011 and 2014 (the most recent available data) more than 1,500 farmworkers in California suffered nonfatal injuries while working between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The number of nonfatal injuries in the state account for nearly half of all farmworker night-time injuries throughout the country.

Statistics show the number of nonfatal farmworker night injuries around the country have declined between 2011 and 2014, but in California, the number has remained somewhat steady. Now, night injuries in California make up a larger percentage of the country’s overall farmworker night injuries.

Lack of adequate lighting standards leave farmworkers vulnerable to tripping on uneven ground, get bitten by spiders, snakes or other wild animals, being run over by machinery or falling into irrigation ditches, according to the California Rural Legal Assistance, a law firm that represents farmworkers all over the state.

“In the absence of an illumination standard, we have observed a wide range of illumination practices,” CRLA head said in a letter to state regulators. “In some fields, headlights from passenger vehicles are the only light provided. In other fields, lighting illuminates the plants well at the level where the crop is harvested but leaves the ground dark so workers stumble on rocks and holes.”

Read more at The Desert Sun
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