Ten farm workers, who were poisoned when pesticides from a neighboring orchard drifted on them, recently settled their claims against Dovex Fruit Company for $180,000. The poisoning occurred in Orondo, WA in 2014 when the workers, nine of whom were women, were doing work in a neighboring orchard owned by Auvil Fruit.
Shortly after the workers were exposed they developed a variety of symptoms, including headaches, nausea and vomiting, blurred vision, dizziness, shortness of breath, and tightness in the chest. Several workers were taken by ambulance to area emergency rooms after being required to take off their clothing and be “hosed off” by emergency responders.
“Farm workers, especially woman of child-bearing age, should not be exposed to such dangerous chemicals. Employers need to communicate with each other before they spray,” said Viviana Silva, one of the workers poisoned by the spray. Silva says the pesticides landed on her face and she immediately felt burning in her lungs and in her eyes. “We hope this settlement will lead to new notification requirements that protect workers,” says Ms. Silva.
Washington law does not require that neighboring orchards notify before they spray, which unnecessarily puts workers and others in harm’s way. “These drift incidents are preventable and should not be happening in the age of cell phones and instant messaging,” said Joe Morrison of Columbia Legal Services, one of the attorneys for the workers. “There’s just no excuse for not notifying your neighbor that spraying will occur to prevent exposing farm workers to dangerous chemicals.”
The Washington State Department of Agriculture previously fined Dovex $7,500 for safety violations arising out of the same conduct. The pesticide safety labels warned applicators not to apply the chemical if it could drift on others because the toxins “may be fatal if inhaled” and may cause substantial eye injury. WSDA found that some workers were as close as 40 feet from where the application took place, and that applicators violated safety laws by applying the chemicals in winds that consistently exceeded 11 mph and gusted over 18 mph. Dovex did not contest WSDA’s factual findings.
Dovex’s orchard manager, Darrin Case, told WSDA investigators he met with Auvil staff after the incident “to make arrangements for notification to prevent future incidents.” However, WSDA’s report found that there were “numerous complaints that notification was not occurring as [Dovex] had agreed.”
Department of Health statistics show that pesticide drift incidents are on the rise. A DOH expert who tracks farm worker exposure to pesticides, testified last April to a House Committee that, “In 2014 we had more events and many more illness cases than we had ever seen before in the 25 years [DOH has been doing] investigations.” DOH believes that drift exposure cases are likely under-reported due gaps in the reporting system.
The workers were also represented by Lola Velazquez and Patrick Pleas of the Northwest Justice Project. “It’s up to the sprayer to avoid the worker, not the other way around,” said Ms. Velazquez. “The settlement is a fair compensation of our clients’ injuries and an encouragement to the company to avoid future accidents.”
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