HOMESTEAD, Fla. – A South Florida farm worker has died after working during the historic heat wave and, on Wednesday, the Farmworker Association of Florida Homestead Office held a vigil and press conference in Efrain Lopez Garcia’s honor.
Friends and loved ones say Lopez Garcia complained about feeling sick during a recent shift out in the heat.
The 30-year-old was found unresponsive and was later pronounced dead. His official cause of death has not yet been released.
“We want employers to know to educate their employees about how to take care of themselves – basic needs: water, shade, breaks – to work with someone, not to be left alone. You never know what’s going to happen, so unfortunately, this death occurred and we tried preventing it,” said Yvette Cruz, of the Farm Workers Association of Florida.
Luis Campos told Local 10 News in Spanish that most bosses aren’t considerate of what workers are going through in this heat.
It’s the same sentiment we heard from many outdoor workers off camera in Homestead.
“The county and the state should make strict laws to protect workers,” Campos said.
Lopez Garcia is one of at least two farmworkers suspected to have died from being exposed to extreme heat in recent weeks.
The tragedies fueled protests outside the Miami-Dade County Government building Tuesday, calling for action to protect outdoors workers exposed to dangerous heat.
Their demands were answered Tuesday as county commissioners unanimously passed a preliminary measure to adopt a heat standard for workers.
It would require a safety program educating workers and their supervisors about heat exposure risk, the right to a 10-minute paid rest and shaded water breaks every two hours. A new county office will also be opened to enforce these protections.
“It will be the first such law in Florida, and it will be the strongest such law if it passes as is in the entire nation,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said.