be provided by employers. However, farmworkers are not accorded the same protec-
tions as other workers. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
issued a field sanitation standard in the late 1980s requiring toilets, drinking water,
and hand-washing facilities. However, under federal law, employers of ten or fewer
workers need not provide farmworkers with toilets, hand-washing facilities, or drink-
ing water. The denial of such basic amenities is not just an affront to dignity but a se-
rious public health issue. Women in particular are exposed to urinary and parasitic
infections by the lack of these sanitary facilities. Plus, the denial of drinking water
has resulted in preventable deaths in the fields from heatstroke. Sanitary facilities are
automatically provided for in other occupations and should also be afforded farm-
workers as a matter of federal law.^8
For that matter, compliance with OSHA’s standards and regulations has been poor.
In 1990 OSHA found field sanitation violations in 60 percent of its field inspections.
The fact that OSHA can afford to inspect only a small portion of establishments sub-
ject to the law raises questions as to the actual magnitude of noncompliance with its
regulations. A North Carolina survey revealed that only 4 percent of farmworkers
investigated had access to drinking water, hand-washing facilities, and toilets.
With regard to pesticides, both OSHA and the EPA have laws on the books that
cover migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Because of possible jurisdictional difficulties,
and due to overlap in the regulations, OSHA deferred its standard to the EPA’s
Worker Protection Standard. Although in 1983 the EPA determined that the Worker
Protection Standard provided insufficient protection to farmworkers and was in need
of revision, the revised standard scheduled to take effect in 1994 was postponed until1995.^9
The Worker Protection StandardThe EPA’s Worker Protection Standard (WPS) is a regulation aimed at reducing
the risk of pesticide poisonings and injuries among agricultural workers and pesticide
handlers. The WPS contains requirements for labeling, pesticide safety training, noti-
fication of pesticide applications, use of personal protective equipment, restricted
entry intervals following applications, posting and signs, decontamination supplies,
and emergency medical assistance. Initially, the WPS was a very simple statement:
workers were not allowed to enter the field until the sprays had dried or the dust had
settled. The WPS was amended several times before it was finalized in 1995. This
resulted in a very complex rule that is difficult for the agricultural community, both
the farmers and the workers, to understand. It is very weak and poorly enforced.
Most farmworkers have no idea what pesticide residues are on the crops they cultivate
or harvest, or of their potential health effects.^10
The WPS still leaves a significant number of workers unprotected. For example,
the WPS does not adequately address the problem of drift of airborne pesticides onto
adjacent fields where people may be working, or onto adjacent work camps where
people may be living. Although the WPS requires that warning signs be posted, they30 | Pesticides