Cal/OSHA shut down Rheingans Farms and Greenfield, Inc., both near Winchester.

Officials say at Rheingans, temperatures were in the 90s with employees working in a field without access to shade. The employer had provided no water, didn’t have a required heat illness prevention program and made no provisions for how to respond if an employee became ill from the heat.

The state says Greenfield had no shade, no heat illness prevention program, no training and no emergency response procedures. The afternoon temperature in Greenfield’s farm was 98 degrees.

Both employers can’t restart their operations until they come into full compliance with California’s heat illness prevention standard.

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The amendments would clarify when and how to provide shade, water and training for workers.

The changes would also set triggers of 85 and 95 degrees for steps to be taken by employers.

Cal/OSHA shut down eight employers in two weeks earlier this year, saying the heat protection they were providing for employees wasn’t adequate.

The agency says its findings show employers need more guidance on protecting workers from heat exposure.

The changes appear to be delayed for now. When Cal-OSHA’s standards board met on June 18, it refused to adopt the emergency amendments after labor and health advocates spoke out against some of the changes.

The amendments would allow grapevines in vineyards to be used as suitable shade. Also, shade could be as far as a five-minute walk away.

Click here for more on California’s heat-illness standard.