The California Farmworker Foundation (CFF) has launched a new farmworker safety campaign to help workers and their families stay safe through the pandemic. The campaign, La Seguridad Empieza con Usted, which means ‘Safety Starts with You’, is a multifaceted approach to keep farmworkers apprised of the best practices for mitigating the chances of contracting COVID-19. The new campaign will supplement other CFF efforts to help keep the farmworker community safe.
“The health of farmworkers and their families is just as essential as their work to keep the world fed,” CFF Executive Director Hernan Hernandez said in a news release. “Farming operations have adopted safety procedures to keep workers safe on the job. This campaign provides our communities with more Spanish-language information and resources about the pandemic, including the dispelling of COVID-19 myths, to better educate everyone on the need to make safe choices in their personal lives.”
The campaign includes advertisements on Spanish-language radio encouraging farmworkers to access CFF resources on COVID-19 safety. CFF has information about safe practices and offers pointers to increase safety measures in daily life. The safety campaign will reportedly reach farmworkers in the greater Bakersfield and Fresno growing regions.
The new farmworker safety campaign is being supported by multiple industry organizations including the California Fresh Fruit Association and California Table Grape Commission. There has been a multitude of efforts to further improve safety mechanisms within farming operations in response to COVID-19. Various associations and agencies have been working with industry members to provide the most up-to-date resources and guidance on coronavirus safety.
The farmworker safety campaign was developed in response to several incidents of employees in agricultural operations testing positive for coronavirus. The COVID-19 Farmworker Study Team recently released preliminary findings based on a statewide survey of more than 900 farmworkers in California, looking at safety issues among the farmworker community. The survey found that 90 percent of respondents are active in implementing practices to protect their families from coronavirus. The findings also note that farmworkers have valuable suggestions to improve preventative efforts in the workplace.
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