Beyond Water, Rest, and Shade: Advancing Farmworker Heat Protection Through Partnership
Heat affects farmworker health and productivity. As occupational heat exposure intensifies, cooling devices that extract body heat could protect farmworkers. Companies already market many such technologies to athletes. However, few studies have evaluated their effectiveness, particularly among farmworkers, for whom field-feasibility, workflow integration, and cost-at-scale are critical. In this commentary, we first describe how heat affects farmworker health and review current heat illness prevention standards. We then highlight how cooling devices can augment existing measures and underscore the critical need to test their effectiveness, adaptability, and cost-benefit among farmworkers. Advancing this work requires addressing valid yet surmountable research barriers and building trusted partnerships among researchers, farmworkers, employers, and policymakers. As heat interrupts an increasing number of workdays over time, effective cooling strategies during outdoor work will prove critical to sustaining our nation's food supply.
Authors
- Marimar Contreras Nieves (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-3809-0801)
- Vicki Hertzberg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8834-4363)
- Maria E. Montez‐Rath (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5154-2182)
- Roxana Chicas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6715-1618)
- Lupita Flores
- Margaret C. Morrissey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4488-3648)
- Shuchi Anand (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9892-8477)
- Catherine Ley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8424-7873)
- Julie Parsonnet (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7342-5366)
- Douglas J. Casa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8858-2636)
- Fadi A. Fathallah
- Xue Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6051-3241)
- H. Craig Heller
- Jason Glaser
- Duff Bevill
- Astrid Elliott (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-4728-7536)
- Heather Riden
- Ernesto Orellana
Institutions
- New America (US)
- University of Connecticut (US)
- Emory University (US)
- Providence College (US)
- University of California, Davis (US)
- Stanford University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- American Journal of Industrial Medicine
- Published
- 2026-06-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/ajim.70105
- Primary Topic
- Thermoregulation and physiological responses
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00