Workers Have the Right to a Safe and Sanitary Work Environment
Your employer must notify each employee of the location of the sanitation facilities and must allow reasonable opportunities during the workday to:
- Use the facilities for drinking, hand‑washing, and use of the toilet;
- Drink water frequently from a single-use, unshared cup or drinking fountain, especially on hot days;
- Wash hands before eating or smoking;
- Wash hands before and after using the toilet; and
- Use the bathroom as often as necessary.
Drinking water must be:
- Provided free of charge by the employer;
- In locations readily accessible to all employees;
- Suitably cool and in sufficient amounts, considering air temperature and humidity, to meet the needs of all employees;
- Dispensed in single‑use drinking cups or by fountains. The use of shared cups or dippers is prohibited; and
- Dispensed in containers designed to maintain water quality that are refilled daily, kept covered, and regularly cleaned.
Hand‑washing facilities must be:
- Clean, sanitary and refilled with clean water as necessary;
- Equipped with soap and single‑use towels;
- Equipped with at least one gallon of water for each worker at the beginning of the workday, if working in a pesticide-treated area;
- Sufficiently provided with at least one facility per 20 workers; and
- Located with the toilets.
Toilets must be:
- Operational, clean, and sanitary, and includes an adequate supply of toilet tissue;
- Ventilated, screened, and constructed to ensure privacy, including self‑closing doors that can be latched from the inside;
- Sufficiently provided with at least one facility per 20 workers; and
- No more than a 15-minute walk away.
Employers must:
- Perform a “hazard assessment” of the workplace to identify and control physical and health hazards to workers;
- Identify, provide, and pay for appropriate personal protection equipment (PPE) for employees;
- Provide training to employees in the use and care of the PPE;
- Maintain the PPE, which includes replacing worn or damaged PPE; and
- Periodically review, update and evaluate the effectiveness of the PPE program.
Workers should:
- Properly wear PPE;
- Attend training sessions on PPE;
- Care for, clean, and maintain PPE; and
- Inform a supervisor of the need to repair or replace PPE.
Heat Stress, Heat Exhaustion, and Heat Stroke
What is Heat Stress?
Heat stress occurs when the body cannot get rid of excess heat.
Factors that contribute to heat stress include:
- High temperatures;
- High heat sources;
- High humidity;
- Direct physical contact with hot objects; and/or
- Physically demanding activities, such as farm work.
Symptoms of heat stress can vary and can lead to either heat exhaustion or heat stroke. Both conditions require medical attention.
What is Heat Exhaustion?
Heat exhaustion occurs when your body overheats and when the body’s natural way to regulate temperature (through increased heart rate and sweat) is not enough to keep the body temperature from rising.
Heat exhaustion can include the following symptoms:
- Feeling faint or experiencing dizziness;
- Excessive sweating;
- Cool, pale, clammy skin;
- Nausea or vomiting;
- A fast pulse; and/or
- Muscle cramps
If you or someone you work with has the symptoms of heat exhaustion, do the following:
- Move to a cool place (i.e. shaded areas, indoors, etc.);
- Loosen clothing for ventilation; and/or
- Provide/drink cool water.
Get medical help if any of the following happens:
- If the worker throws up or cannot drink fluids;
- Symptoms progressively worsen; and/or
- Symptoms last for more than one hour.
What is a Heat Stroke?
Heat stroke is a life-threatening condition which occurs when heat overwhelms your body’s ability to manage its temperature. Heat stroke causes reduced blood flow and damage to vital organs if it goes unchecked and untreated. Call 911 immediately if you or someone you work with is showing symptoms of heat stroke.
- Heat stroke includes the following symptoms:
- Appear confused or disoriented;
- A very high body temperature;
- Red, hot skin that may be dry or sweaty;
- Nausea or vomiting;
- Presence of a fast pulse; and/or
- Fainting or passing out.
If you or someone you work with experiences these symptoms, call 911 right away.
- While waiting for 911 to respond, move yourself or the worker to a cooler place.
- There are many practices to cool yourself or a worker down, such as moving to a shaded area.
- Help lower the person’s temperature with cool towels or a cool bath.
There may be relief or compensation available for violations of worksite health and safety regulations, such as:
- An employer’s failure to provide reasonable use to toilets, drinking water, and hand-washing facilities near your work violates state and federal laws, and eligible farmworkers may be able to recover up to $500 for each violation.
If an agency is investigating your employer for labor violations, such as failure to a safe and healthy work environment, you may be eligible for immigration relief. Please visit Immigration Basics for more information.
As a current employee, you have the right to file a complaint with MIOSHA for health and safety violations at your workplace anonymously. Workers may also file an anonymous complaint with MIOSHA at 800-866-4674.
It is against the law for employers to retaliate against a worker who reports a workplace health and safety violation. If your employer retaliated against you after reporting a safety violation, you may have a discrimination claim with MIOSHA.
Document the address or prepare to describe the worksite location and provide the times you will be working.
Workers can request a free, confidential consultation online or by calling the Michigan Farmworker Hotline at 800-968-4046 to speak with an attorney about suspected violations of these rules.