Occupational Health News Roundup

The Central Valley Business Times reports on another apparent farmworker heat death:

Ramiro Carrillo Rodriguez, 48, a father of two and employed by a farm labor contractor, died in Selma Thursday afternoon after working all day in a Reedley vineyard.

Mr. Ramiro complained being sick from the heat and was taken home by his foreman. He passed out there and was dead on arrival at a local hospital, the UFW says.

This brings the Central Valleyâs farmworker heat-death toll to four for the summer. Abdon Felix, 42, was working in a vineyard; Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, 17, was working in another vineyard; and Jose Macarena Hernandez, 64, was harvesting squash.

In other news:

New York Times: Corruption and incompetence are all too common in the licensing of crane operators in New York.

Washington Post: A photo of Army medic Joseph Dwyer carrying a wounded four-year-old Iraqi put Dwyer in the national spotlight; now Dwyer, who was reported to suffer from PTSD, is dead of substance overdose and the photographer who snapped the picture wonders if that image played a role in his death.

American News Project: At a Democratic policy committee hearing on Iraq contracting oversight, Senators heard from two mothers of soldiers who were electrocuted on U.S. military bases in Iraq, and from two former KBR electiricians who testified about a lack of training, supervision, and supplies.

Associated Press: New legislation in Montgomery County, Maryland requires that employers who hire domestic workers for 20 or more hours of work each week negotiate written employment contracts spelling out duties, time off, and pay.

Occupational Hazards: Several major employers have launched workplace wellness programs to address smoking, obesity, and disease prevention and management in an effort to control healthcare costs.