Inslee announces additional COVID-19 safety standards for agricultural workers
Gov. Jay Inslee said agricultural workers will receive additional protections against COVID-19 under guidelines released Thursday.
The governor issued a proclamation that he said would improve the state’s health and safety standards for farmworkers through physical distancing, increased handwashing, training and education. Those requirements apply to orchards, fields, dairies, fruit and vegetable-packing warehouses, as well as employer-provided transportation and housing.
“I’d like to address the over 100,000 people in Washington who are working in the agricultural industry. We know that your labor is so critical to providing food for all of us and we are particularly thinking of the 1.7 million Washingtonians who have food insecurity today,” he said at a press conference livestreamed by TVW.
From fields to employer-provided housing and transportation, agricultural workers face “numerous points of risk” from COVID-19, Inslee said. He referred to workers who have been on strike at fruit processing facilities in Yakima Valley where COVID-19 outbreaks have occurred.
“The striking workers in Yakima, on the lines as we speak, are clear in their calls that more needs to be done. We hear that message and that is why we are acting today.
“So today we are announcing additional safety standards for COVID-19 prevention for agricultural workers across the industry. These standards build on the requirements set forth at the beginning of the crisis for all industries, with more specific provisions for the unique needs of this industry,” Inslee added.
For outside agricultural work, portable handwashing stations must be placed within 110 yards of employees at all times.
“Workers won’t have a false choice between effective handwashing and getting their job done,” he said.
Also, the state has crafted an emergency rule designed to reduce the risk of the spread of the new coronavirus to growers who provide temporary housing for their workers, said Joel Sacks, director of the state Department of Labor and Industries.
One option to comply with the physical distancing requirement is for those growers to create groups of up to 15 workers, who will stay together in housing, when they eat, work, and are transported between housing and the work site. They will not have contact with other groups, Sacks said.
Employers are required to provide facial coverings when they’re not working alone. Inslee said the state has purchased and distributed 135,000 cloth facial coverings to agricultural workers so far.
Jon DeVaney, president of the Washington state Tree Fruit Association, said in an email that growers and packers “are following, and in many cases exceeding” guidelines from federal, state and local health officials on how to protect the workforce and the food supply.
DeVaney said the trade group has been in regular communication with the state departments of Agriculture, Health, and Labor and Industries, as well as the governor’s staff, as they continue to update safety guidance and requirements.
“We have not yet had a chance to evaluate the final contents of today’s proclamation. However, since the advent of COVID-19 our biggest challenges have been inadequate supplies of personal protective equipment and other resources needed to fully implement best practices.
“We will continue to work with the state to try and resolve these supply issues, and will be looking to them to provide continued flexibility to implement alternative and equally protective safety measures where necessary to accommodate resource limitations and diverse circumstances,” DeVaney added.
Tens of thousands of farmworkers have come into the Columbia Basin and Yakima Valley areas with the start of cherry season, said Erik Nicholson, national vice president of the United Farm Workers.
“When we talked to farmworkers the no. 1 issue on the top of their list was a clearly defined set of expectations,” he said. “When we shared this with them, there was a deep sigh of relief.”
Nicholson said they were happy about the requirement that employers provide a fresh face mask each day for each worker, moving hand washing stations to 110 yards and requiring workers to wash their hands five times a day.
He linked the continuing high amount of new cases in Franklin and Yakima counties to infections among the farmworkers.
“It’s clear that the status quo is not working and we see this as progress at getting us there,” Nicholson said.
This story was originally published May 28, 2020 at 6:09 PM with the headline "Inslee announces additional COVID-19 safety standards for agricultural workers."
