COVID-19 Workplace Safety
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
Part of a $3 million contract California Labor and Workforce Development Agency will go to UC Davis to provide farmworkers, growers, and contractors training and safety information to reduce the ongoing risk of contracting COVID-19.
Heather Riden is the program director for the Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety at UC Davis.
Riden… “We are part of a statewide effort to address COVID-19 prevention and hazards in the workplace through this funding. And so we at UC Davis are focusing on the agricultural industry. There are others across the state who are focusing on other high hazard industries.”
The program will be especially active in areas of high agricultural employment, such as the Central Valley, the Imperial Valley and fertile regions along California’s coastlines.
Riden… “Employers and growers have taken steps over the last year to do a lot of prevention (and) interventions. So changing the way people work, increasing disinfection and cleaning, mask utilization, distancing and all of that. And the goal of this project is to continue to reinforce a lot of those messages, even though we feel like we've heard it all many, many times, there's still a lot of confusion and misunderstanding about it. And so making sure that that information and those safety practices have really saturated down to all employers and workers.”
Learn more at the Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety website.