GSA Seeks Science-Based Data-Driven COVID-19 Worker Protection Solutions

In March, the Grower-Shipper Association of Central California (GSA) was part of a collaborative effort in Monterey County that developed prevention guidance to protect essential workers for use on the farm, in food facilities and for employee housing, which was the first of its kind in the nation. Much of what was included in this guidance document became part of the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (Cal-OSHA) COVID-19 prevention guidelines enacted in April.

GSA supported this effort which required employers to update worksite illness prevention programs that identifies COVID-19 as a workplace hazard mandating documentation and implementation of protective measures to limit the spread of the virus. These Cal-OSHA guidelines were instrumental, along with other evolving standards and requirements, in providing protection for essential workers.

Regulations that seek to address workplace hazards must be guided by data, information and science. Otherwise the regulatory solution may not address the real problem. Specific to farming, uninformed regulations may not adequately protect farm workers from COVID-19, may impact agriculture’s ability to supply food to consumers and can place a misguided resource burden on farmers.

Cal-OSHA’s latest emergency temporary standards announced in November were approved without substantiated science and data and did not follow established due process. This is why GSA has joined with several groups in the farming industry as well as employers of other essential workers, in a lawsuit so that regulations intended to protect workers actually meet that objective and allow for consumers to continue accessing needed goods and services.

GSA’s decision to participate in this lawsuit was a thoughtful and careful process. We take this unfortunate yet serious action because we believe there are unconsidered mitigation steps that have and would continue to protect farm workers while allowing our farmers to produce a consistent supply of fruits and vegetables.

Throughout this pandemic, GSA and its employer members have proven our commitment to food and farm worker protections by enacting ground-breaking programs in both the Central Coast and Yuma growing regions. These include:

Established quarantined housing for farm workers who may have been exposed to the virus, tested positive or were symptomatic. GSA’s housing program provides daily deliveries of meals and necessities as well as health checks by medical professionals. GSA’s program became a model for Governor Gavin Newsom’s “Housing for the Harvest” initiative.
Developed an onsite training program conducted by health professionals which provides prevention guidance on the job or at home;
Acquired over a million face masks for farm and food workers;
Established an expedited and dedicated testing program for farm workers, which also addressed the need for more convenient testing locations for easier access by farm workers.
GSA is hopeful that there is a prompt legal resolution that emphasizes and recognizes appropriate and actionable worksite-based protections, the protective efforts already in place to limit transmission, the essential nature of the work and, more specifically, the infrastructure needed to support testing, tracing, and isolation.