Growers try to protect workers from the heat

AIKEN --- Along with the summer heat comes peach harvesting season in South Carolina, a time when crop workers are at a higher risk for heat-related illnesses.

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Annette M. Drowlette/Staff

A worker fills a basket at Titan Farms in Edgefield County. The farm's workers drink water and take breaks to combat the heat.

A report released this week by the Centers for Disease Control found that 68 crop workers across the country over a 15-year period died from heat stroke, representing a rate nearly 20 times greater than the general work force.

"The majority of these deaths were in adults aged 20-54 years, a population not typically considered to be at high risk for heat illnesses," the report stated.

Specific numbers for Georgia or South Carolina were not listed in the report and messages left for the CDC in Atlanta were not immediately returned Friday.

In response to its findings, the CDC report recommends employers have a heat management plan to protect workers.

Local peach growers say they are aware of the dangers their field workers face and have safeguards in place to make sure they don't become victims of heat exhaustion or heat stroke.

Titan Farms in Edgefield County employs 380 field workers for about 3,500 acres of orchards with one supervisor for about every 15 workers.

"We have pretty direct supervision, we have plenty of water available and easily accessible, and we take breaks about every 21/2 hours," said Chalmers Carr, the president of Titan Farms. "Those are our primary modes of action for protecting our workers."

Sonny Yonce, of Yonce and Sons Peaches near Johnston, said water is available for the 200 employees who work the company's more than 3,000 acres. Workers at both companies start picking early in the morning when the temperatures are cool.

If the day gets too unbearable, when temperatures or the heat index near 100 degrees, work will stop and sometimes resume later in the evening.

Mr. Carr said a person gets used to working outside.

"Pretty much because our workers have been with us so long they kind of get seasonally climatized to it," he said.

Titan Farms has not had any heat-related problems this year.

"We have had workers in the past get heat exhaustion," Mr. Carr said. "Last August was a very tough period where we had almost three weeks of 100 degree weather."

In such conditions, communication between workers and supervisors is key, with workers letting someone know when they are feeling the symptoms of being overheated, Mr. Carr said.

Reach Michelle Guffey at (803) 648-1395, ext. 110, or michelle.guffey@augustachronicle.com.