Working in extreme heat Fatality File

Farm Worker Dies From Heat Stroke 

Joe had been working in the North Carolina tobacco field for just over a week. The first few days on the farm were hot and humid, with welcome breaks of rain. But on this day, there was no rain. The thermometer had already climbed to 95F when Joe stopped for his soda and cracker break at 10 a.m. By the time the temperature reached between 100F and 108F at 3 p.m., Joe complained to the crew leader that he wasn’t feeling well. The crew leader gave Joe a drink of water and drove him back to the workers? Housing, where he left Joe to rest for a while. Forty-five minutes later, Joe was found on the steps of the house. He was unconscious. Emergency medical services were called and Joe was transported to the hospital, where his core body temperature was recorded at 108F. But Joe didn’t respond to the medical personnel’s attempts to cool him. His death was attributed to heat stroke.

A Little about Joe

Joe, 44, had traveled from Mexico to the US to join a crew of 12 H-2A workers employed by the farmer, who also employed 5 full-time workers and 3 part-time workers. (H-2A workers are temporary, nonimmigrant foreign workers who are hired under contract to perform farm work in the United States when American workers are not available.) Joe had no tobacco farming experience and when he died he’d been in the United States for 11 days.

The Investigation

Investigators learned that the farmer had distributed to all farm workers, including Joe, a safety and health booklet written in Spanish that included information on heat illness and heat stroke. Unfortunately, the employer did not make it a requirement that the workers read the booklet nor were the contents of the booklet discussed or reviewed.