New Reports Demonstrate Need for Policy Reforms

The Center for Worker Health at the Wake Forest School of Medicine just released two new policy briefs that highlight the need for reforms to better protect workers.  

A look at the data on occupational safety shows, for example, that many field workers are forced to do their jobs in unsanitary conditions:

• About 20% of migrant farmworkers reported lacking individual cups for drinking water.
• Lack of water for washing hands increased to more than 1/3 in late season.
• About 1/2 of migrant farmworkers reported having no soap available for hand washing.
• About 60% reported having no disposable towels available for hand washing.

A second policy brief, focused on pesticides, concludes that "Greater effort is needed to reduce farmworker pesticide exposure through training farmers as well as farmworkers, more cautious use of pesticides, greater enforcement of current pesticide safety regulations, and new regulations documenting pesticide use."